SIMILAR
by Molonara
Summary: Alex Mercer, codename: ZEUS, spends his days watching after Dana, who is in a coma. Then someone starts following him. Dr. Ragland finds out Dana might be infected. As Alex searches for a cure, he can't wondering, who is codename: ERIS? Takes place between the finale of [P1] and the events that lead up to [P2]. (Sorry for the long hiatus everybody, been in collage, new ch soon)
1. Monster

What is a monster? Some, if not most people, would say that it is a creature that lurks under the bed, ready to drag unsuspecting kids under and devour them alive. Others may think it is a man, and only rarely a woman, born of sin, only to do wrong in this world, unable to receive or accept help from good hearts; a person who does truly evil things to innocent people with no reason at all.

The truth is, there are monsters everywhere, in every one of us. They lay dormant there, until the time is right for their awakening. And when that time comes, we become something else, we all think we have a reason for what we do, and to some extent those reasons are justified. But not everyone will agree, or even believe the reasons; all they hear is excuses for why or how it began. And so, the monsters have to live with the transformation.

For me, that moment of realization and acceptance came a long time ago, only the change was much more literal.

Who I was, and still am in a sense before that descent into chaos I had to endure, is still the only identity I hold sacred. Alex Mercer was renowned genetic scientist, who in a fit of delusional paranoia, created his end and the end of millions, he died; I died.

But it was not the end, for soon I, Alex Mercer, the Blacklight Virus, ZEUS, whatever I am called, was born from that dying man and spawned into a world that showed no warmth or light for me. The mistakes of my previous life, my other half and counterpart, were doomed to haunt me forever.

There are days where I wish I could have been a benefactor for the people of Manhattan, to apologize for all the wrongs done by the hands I bear. But that can never happen, for it is too late to help the dead and dying. So many things never done, so many possibilities wasted, so many mistakes.

Relooking on the past, I knew there might have been hope if I had stepped in. But I cannot hide who or what I truly am inside. They would have all fled at the sight of me.

As the Blacklight Virus, I feel no humanity. My only instincts, to consume, destroy, and infect, have made me feel such a rush of power, that if I am not careful, I could get lost in the insanity of it all. Showing no clemency, for none was ever shown to me, I render all that opposes me to a stain of red on a nearby surface. My surrounding are ugly and dull to my eyes, just as the people were like ants, easily crushed under my heel.

But I am not completely gone, though I struggle to hold on to my grasp of what is right or wrong; for I am still Alex Mercer inside, though as Alex Mercer, I am just as merciless in my view of the world, and even though I have some humanly attachments left, those bonds are wearing thin.

This is all Blackwatch's fault. No matter how much blame I put on myself, Blackwatch will always be the one reason for everything bad that has happened.

I don't care how much supercilious hatred I show toward them. They deserve every last ounce of pain I will give them, and have given them! They kill their own kind, young and old, for the sake of a few feet of ground, or to take me down, a useless task. Ultimately, they think themselves superior to everyone else. It's hard to think that they are a division of the American forces.

I don't think it's surprising what happened after I saved the city from being leveled by a nuclear warhead. Blackwatch's finite hold over the Infection was expected; they had been too confident and proud. When the Infection seemed to deteriorate, the military, what was left of the civilians, Blackwatch, they all began to remiss in the thought that it was all over. Bloodtox levels began to dearth and that was when the Infection struck and struck hard, rearing it's head up from a slumber and spewing the consequences on the fools.

The Infection spread over the Red Line and into almost all of Manhattan. No one could escape the cloud of destruction, save for my company, Blackwatch, and me. The local government had become venal and was seized by the Blackwatch officials in a state of martial law. Gathering anyone who was uninfected, they created one big stronghold at the edge of the island in Battery Park. It has since begun to expand, just as the virus had.

Now the Infected run rampant through the streets of the big apple, tens of thousands of them, faces lost and misshapen. However, they plod along with no real purpose, no other drive then instinct. Elizabeth Greene had been the strategy and brain of the viral body, the one who was the source of the Infection, the queen of the Hive Mind. I ended her life painfully.

For the longest time, my drive had been to discover my past. I learned Alex Mercer had a sister, a girlfriend, and an unappealing life; but sadly, that's just it, I am not Alex Mercer truthfully, and that was the most painful thing to discover. I finally know everything, so what is my purpose now?

The answer to that is simple. My sister Dana, if I can even count her as that, was injured sometime in my quest for truth, and is now in a coma. Dr. Ragland, who had aided me several times, is taking care of her. I'm trusting the Doc with her life, for he is the only one I can trust.

So what can I do now?

Since I know the truth, I know there are no sides to choose. I am my own side. I fight the Infection and Blackwatch, basically anyone who gets in my way.

My name is Alex Mercer, codename ZEUS.

I'm a monster.

I am the Virus.

And I can never leave this island until my work is done.

•••


	2. A Typical Monday

I hate Hunters with a burning passion.

Especially when there are about twenty of them, not including three Leader Hunters, trying to rip your guts out while a strike team helicopter is gunning for you. And this all happening at eight o' clock in the morning. God, I hate Mondays as much as a normal person would, which is saying something.

I made a quick dash, catch, and consume, grabbing onto the nearest Infected while dodging the clawing charge of one of the large fleshy beasts. Everywhere I looked, dead bodies were walking, small pick-me-ups when I was in need. They had all been civilians of a marvelous and popular city at one point, spending their lives in light of another day and future. But now the city of New York was in ruins and it's inhabitants mangled into corpses, possibilities and happy tomorrows snuffed out like the candle of a birthday cake. But there is always a bright side. At least with no more civilians, there is no more traffic; meaning didn't have to worry about getting run over. Hollow vehicles were always prime projectiles, as light as Styrofoam given my immense strength.

My current situation had evolved from my willingness to destroy a building where the Redlight virus was being generated. It just so happened that Blackwatch was in the process, not that they were getting anywhere, of destroying the same Infected Hive, probably because it was near their oh so protective military base. I say it like that because I had infiltrated it quite a number of times unseen with no trouble; protected indeed. But in any case, now I was caught in a battle of man and beast, each selfishly wanting to acquire the same patch of grass. I tried to maintain my concentration on destroying the Hive, dodging attacks from enemies and grabbing nearby objects to through at the infested structure, but the Hunters were fast and numerous. As I picked up a car to chuck at the annoying 'copter, I was knocked of my feet from a fourth and unexpected Leader Hunter.

As the savage creatures closed in around me, hungering for a piece of the rare meat, I knew it was time to stop messing around. Getting surrounded by these things is the worst, and they could incapacitate me, leaving me either to their mercy or to that of Blackwatch, whose desire to dissect me was always apparent. They will never get me. Concentrating my biomass, I released a storm of tendrils, expanding from me in all directions like a solid firework. Time always seemed to slow down as I did this, allowing me to feel along all the tendrils as they shot through the Hunters like freshly organic spears of barbed wire, piecing meat and bone. Then I pulled them all back to me, gaining more energy from the carnage stuck to the appendages. Not any other time did I feel more alive then the surge of power I get from my devastating finishers.

All the hunters fell dead with an anguished cry, except for one of the Lead Hunters, who was staggering in a daze, streams of thick Biomass liquid being jetted out of its neck, indicating a broken spinal column. I grinned at the sight of that easy prey and quickly climbed atop the brut. With a punch of iron, I broke it's second back and consumed what I could from it. The thing was too big to absorb completely, but it was still a great amount of Biomass. What was left drooped limply to the ground in a crumpled pile along with the rest of the bodies.

But just I was reveling in my kill, the Hive expelled more Hunters from the yellowish boils that grew on the sides. They roared defiantly and charged in to avenge their brethren. I groaned in impatience, wondering how I was going to kill this serpent when with each decapitation, more heads and teeth sprouted. I needed another approach.

Then the answer to the dilemma hit me quite literally.

A guided missile struck me back in a blast of white, yellow, and red debris. The helicopter was shooting at me persistently, not learning that it was pointless. I didn't think they would mind if I 'borrowed' that chopper, I would be doing Blackwatch's job for them after all.

I generated my Whipfist and shot it at the helicopter. The thick chain of mass made contact with the landing gear, and I was pulled into the air toward it, just missing a raging Hunter's pounce.

A smile formed on my bloodstained face as I flew through the air toward the hovering bird. I always loved grappling to helicopters, the wind blowing on face in general. The sense of flight is truly freeing. Some days I would wish I could evolve a set of wings, and just fly away from here, as unbound to the earth as the ravens that circle the infected water towers. Gliding was always too short of a thrill.

The rush was soon over as I reached the helicopter's windshield. The look on the pilot's face was priceless. Ripping off the door that separated in from out, I quickly dispatched the pilot and his passenger, and wiped what was left of them off the glass. I knew how to fly this Grey Goose perfectly, not from experience myself, but from someone else's.

With a couple of missiles and a bullet or two, the Hive caved in on itself with an explosion of fire and Infected Biomass. I watched the Infected branch in all directions to find a new home. My job here was done, no need to linger. I headed back to Ragland's in the chopper, soaring as high as it would take me. From this height, the entire island seemed to be becoming one giant organism. There were Hives everywhere, strange growth spreading from building to building, red and vine-like, creating a real urban jungle. A place I called home.

I wish this had never happened. None were disserving of this horror and madness, but the past cannot be changed.

Landing the chopper on the roof of Ragland's morgue, I got out and took my post at the corner of the building. This was my little watch area, my spot. I had once told Ragland I stood here to make sure that no Infected came near. But that was then. The Infection now knows to stay clear of this building at all costs, thanks to me. Lately, I just stand here to watch the world go by, wondering and waiting. For what? I don't know, salvation maybe, death, the end of the world as we know it? That last one isn't too farfetched given the state of things. Whatever the reason, I know there will be no end for me anytime soon.

So here I stand… waiting….

•••


	3. Nameless Threat

A bird flew past me as the sun started to sink behind the skyscrapers, casting oblong shadows about. It was not a raven, but a dove, a beautiful white dove, such I creature rarely seen in this landscape. It was probably released from a pleasant celebration. Wanting to gaze upon the beauty a bit longer before it flew out of sight, I caught it in midair with my Whipfist and held it in my grappling claws close to me. I inspected it then, taking note of the fineness of the feathers, the curve of the talons, the innocence it possessed. It seemed scared yet strangely calm, its little eyes looking at me with curiosity and fear. It was so fortunate to be viewed as a bird of peace, so lucky to be born with such a title. People would not harm this creature given its status and fairness, and it would explore lands I will never get to know. It was free and without trouble. And I wasn't. My grip tightened.

There was a sudden crack, a silenced squawk, and red blood spattered its little white body, now dead. In my surprised shock, it slipped from my claws and fell to the sidewalk below with a splat. Its eyes, once light with life now dull marbles, seemed to stare back up at me. It took me a while to register what had happened. I had killed it, but I couldn't understand why. Why? I remained motionless in this pondering. Perhaps I was jealous of the little thing's freedom, or maybe this was just a small bit of what my instincts taught. The viral part of me knew that this was what I could do, what I was meant to do, what I am, a soulless killer who carriers a monstrous infection inside, almost as deadly as the monster who carries it. And I admit it to the world.

I deserve to burn in Hell when I die… if I die.

The sharp crackle of radio static and chatter sounded from the cockpit of the helicopter I had hijacked, causing me to turn my attention from the dove's lifeless body stories below. Interested on what could be being broadcasted, I walked over to the parked metal bird, and leaned against the side, listening.

"**Red Crown, this is Black Hawk. We have possible ZEUS activity in Sector Seventeen, heading to intercept and investigate."**

Quickly I looked around for any approaching artillery, fearing that I might have been spotted. But no Gunships or Tanks were in sight. Confused, I started scanning out the memories of high-ranking officers I had consumed for an interpretative numbered map of the area, and realized I was nowhere near Sector Seventeen. Curious as to why they thought I was on the opposite side of the island, I got in the chopper to listened in with more attention.

"**This is Black Hawk, we have visual on the target, attempting to confirm positive id… wait… it is not ZEUS, repeat it is not ZEUS."**

"_**This is Red Crown, what is your situation? Over."**_

"**This is Black Hawk, we appear to have an unknown hostile in Sector Seventeen, possibly infected. Permission to engage." **

"_**This is Red Crown, complete scan to identify target. Over."**_

"**Verifying, proceeding to scan, over…. We seem to have got its attention, it seems to be… BBZZZZZTTTT… Send in a strike team! Send…. ZZZZZRRRRR…. MAYDAY, MAYDAY, WE ARE GOING…" **

As I heard the Black Hawk's transmission come to an end, I could see a faint explosion in the distance where it had crashed. The transmitter got his dying wish, as a Strike Team, consisting of two helicopters and a few UAVs, was radioed in only moments later. I could see them now heading toward the scene of the crime.

"_**Exploration Team Delta Six, this is Red Crown, be prepared for an in-the-dark encounter. Be quick in your recognizance and retrieve the data from downed Black Hawk as soon as possible."**_

I was surprised and a bit curious at this situation. What or who could Blackwatch mistaken as me? From the sounds of it, whoever or whatever it was had enough strength to take down a helicopter from the air, and in record time no less. I thought this disserved some insight, as not knowing something of the sort would be truly foolish.

Getting in the stolen helicopter, I followed the Strike Team that was making its way to Sector Seventeen. All the way, I listened to the conversation between the Delta Six pilots by using some tricks I had learned to tap other helicopter's communications. They seemed generally nervous.

"**Do you know what we are dealing with here?"**__I heard one say.

"**All I know is that it isn't ZEUS," **another responded, **"Command's thinking it's a new threat we may be dealing with. Heard it was sighted earlier today, but they weren't able to get any data, or confirm if it was a threat or not. Looks like it is now."**

"**You think they'll codename it?"**

"**Probably, it's only a matter of time now, right?"**

A third pilot from the corresponding Gunship piped in, **"I actually heard they were going to get rid of most of the codenames. At least for Runners anyway."**

"**HEY!" **The fourth pilot entered into the chat, **"This isn't a slumber party men! Keep your eyes out for the hostile, or I'll send you to protect some Gentek lab rats." **This guy sounded like the commander of the squadron.

"**Oh no," **one of them responded sarcastically, **"Anything but that."**

"**Shut the fuck up Simons!"**

Even though this was entertaining as hell, I decided not to listen anymore, shut off the radio, and focused on the situation. I flew the helicopter, as quietly and stealthily as I could, which was easy, because it was so dark, but I still needed not to be noticed. In the moment of quiet, my mind reeled with questions. What could this 'new threat' be? A new Infected, a Runner, maybe a rogue Super Soldier? Possibly, but if they mistook it for me…

Suddenly, I was shaken from my troubled thoughts as the chopper shook as if it had been hit by something, possibly another bird. However, when I looked through the glass, I realized that what I saw was what I had been looking for.

•••


	4. It Has Yellow Cat Eyes

All I could see were its eyes, its yellow cat-like eyes. In the darkness of the night, they seemed to stand out, glowing as if they emitted their own light, like headlights. And I was totally paralyzed, transfixed by them. The sound of the helicopter seemed to fade away, as well as all the thoughts from my mind. Only the hypnotic split spheres concerned me now. They seemed to be searching my face, darting around in a quick manner, as if it were looking for something. Then the slits widened, in what I guess was surprise. I'm not sure, but it was almost as if the owner of the strange spellbinding cat eyes recognized me, which made me even more worried. Did it know who I was? But then, just as quick as they had appeared, the optics vanished, as if it had never been.

The world came back slowly like a steady beat, so it took a while for me to comprehend what had just happened. The helicopter was hovering stationary; no damage seemed to be done. The propellers were making that signature rhythmic beat that was almost as fast as my heart was or would have been beating. Can't tell if I have a heart anymore.

What was that? Was it real? The idea that it was something my mind had created, a sign I was truly starting to lose it, troubled me to no end. I have a fear of losing my head. But when I switched to my Thermal Vision, I was relieved yet disturbed to find that the imprints of two hands, warm and fading, were still visible on the windshield's bulletproof glass. I reached out to compare them to mine, and found them to be smaller in size.

This proved that whatever it was had been real and that I was still sane, for the moment at least, but this information did nothing to calm my nerves. And whatever it was hadn't attacked me, so either it was scared of me, or it didn't find me to be an enemy. But still, something with eyes like that…

Suddenly, an explosion from up ahead caught my undivided attention, as one of the Strike Helicopters, which were looking for what I now didn't really want to find, suddenly went down, its tail blade had apparently been ripped off. The UAVs, also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, which were designed to scan for Infected (mainly me), were buzzing around, but not beeping red, their little eyes remaining green, indicating they sensed nothing in their vicinity. I was a pretty good ways away, but I still was mindful to keep my distance, not wanting to set off the alarms. If this… _thing_ was still nearby, it wasn't infected, or maybe it was something new, a different strand of the virus that may have surfaced and wasn't detectable by the infection detectors. There were so many different ideas on what was transpiring that they bounced around in my head with such velocity that I had to just stop thinking altogether and concentrate on getting facts.

I turned the radio back on to hear what the remaining Strike Team had to say.

"**DID YOU SEE IT?!"**__one of them was shouting over and over. Man, they were spooked.

"**Yeah, I saw it, or should I say, I saw HER,"**__the other said, somewhat calm but it was a mutual calmness hiding the emotion of fear, **"It looked like a girl or women… but not human. Never seen anything like it."**

"**So it was a Female Runner?"**

"**I'm not sure, but whatever it is, get ready to engage when you see it."**

So, it was female. This made me even more tense. I remembered what I had learned about female Carriers of the virus, how it changed them, made the look inhuman at times. The sudden image of Greene came into my head, when I finally confronted her in that god awful monstrously grotesque form that would give me nightmares if I slept. What if this was another Elizabeth Greene? The idea of another coming of that psycho who had called herself my 'mother' flooded my head, as well as the reign of terror she had set forth. No, I can't let that happen again. But I must also consider that I am wrong. I made a quick mental note to consume and get the memories of the one or ones who saw her… or it, whatever it was.

The pilots started to shout though the radio again as the Infection Detectors plummeted to the city bellow. It was almost as if they malfunctioned or lost power, but it was too dark to see. The sky over Manhattan was majorly polluted so the moon and stars couldn't shine their light on the dark infected city. It was impossible to see exactly what was ten feet away in all the smog.

Meanwhile, the pilots were freaking out, and firing blindly into the darkness, hitting me briefly but no real harm done.

"**It's on us! It's on us!"**

"**Shake it off! God Damn it Watterson, shake it… oh god, THERE IT…."**

"**SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEE-!"**

A piecing screech or scream of some kind burst from the radio. I had covered my ears, it was so loud I could feel the sound, and it hurt! Not even Greene's roar was this powerful. The radio couldn't take it either because it promptly exploded in a shower of sparks. I felt like I had almost gone deaf, my ears were ringing; it sounded like a courses of bells going off in a church with the worst acoustics ever. Then I saw the strangest sight I had ever seen in my entire existence, strange even for me.

The Strike Team helicopter suddenly stopped, froze, the propeller not moving, yet it didn't fall. Then it and the air around it rippled, almost like how my Biomass rippled when I changed my shape, but more like ripples on water. There was no Biomass, no tendrils or red or yellow or black or even the rare green, which I had only encountered once, but a faint glow of sky blue, an almost otherworldly light. I couldn't hear the high-pitched sound I just heard through the radio, which I was sure I could have heard loudly through glass. I could hear the helicopter I occupied, not as loud as my ears would handle at the moment, but not the loud screech. The Strike Chopper continued to ripple, then in a display I had never seen, it shattered in a burst of light. I couldn't believe my eyes. It shattered like glass, breaking up into pieces, which got smaller and smaller until they turned to dust and disappeared, as if it had evaporated. I was stunned, and started to get the idea to get the Hell out of there, until I noticed…

… the helicopter might have disappeared, but the pilots hadn't.

•••


	5. The Memory of Simons Watterson

The two strike team pilots fell through the air, tumbling toward the city below, not even bothering to open their parachutes. Didn't they care about their lives?! I did, cause I needed at least one of those pilots alive. I needed their memories to find out who or what those eyes belonged to, and I can't absorb dead people! Opening the side door of the cockpit, a gust of cold air hit my face. I was pretty high up, and maybe too far away to glide over and catch them. Thinking fast, I summoned my Whipfist and let it fly toward the falling pilots. The extending arm kept reeling and reeling out, till I was almost at the end of my rope. At first, I though that I was out of range and that I would lose my objective, which sometimes, if not always, happens, but right now I didn't want to make a slip up. Luckily, I was able to catch one, and as I reeled the poor bastard in, I watched as the other fell into the darkness of the streets below, out of sight among the moving mass of Infected, which quickly began swarming at the area the body disappeared.

Jumping from the helicopter, for which I had no more use, I glided to a nearby building with my victim in hand. For some reason, he wasn't struggling as most of my captured prey normally would. He wasn't even moving, and this worried me. What if he was dead? When I reached a building that I believed to be an old pharmaceutical, I watched as my helicopter fell and exploded in a blazing inferno. I couldn't help but get a small smirk out of it; I do have a thing for explosions. I wondered if I had made a mistake in abandoning it, but I reminded myself that I could just snag another one later. I then focused on my catch. Checking his vitals, I deduced he was still alive, but in a waking coma or shock… or maybe a trance. I don't know what had happened to him, but this Blackwatch operative was totally out of it, and gave no response, not even when I broke his arm to see if that would make him react.

As his arm's bone broke and flesh ripped and blood spilled from the torn skin onto my jacket and hoodie, tendrils slithered out of me to lap up the life-giving liquid, wanting to absorb him as soon as the life of this man was extinguished. I quickly broke his neck in a sickening snap, completing the deed that some part of me longed for. The fleshy vines gladly converted his mass into mine, breaking down every tissue and bone into digestible material, and as I absorbed the last of the dead body into my biomass, felt a little more powerful and stronger. No regret was felt, not for a Blackwatch.

Then the memories came in a rushing typhoon of blinding light and shrieking images.

I normally don't feel pain, ever, which is one of the many traits that make me invincible. When bullets hit me, or Hunters claw me, I feel a pressure or a slight pinprick sensation, but no real absolute pain. It hadn't always been like that, only after the Nuke Incident, when I was rebuilt from scratch from pure living mass. They do say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. And yet, when it came to the memories of those I consume, those I collect, I feel blinding pain. It is so unbearable; that I'm almost sure it would kill a normal person, something I'm thankful and unthankful I'm not anymore, nor ever was. The pain will only come when I am reminded of something in Alex Mercer's past, or when chose to watch the memories of another at the moment of consumption, and I can skip it if I want, choose not to look at the memories right away so they can dwell in my subconscious a bit and become less harmful.

But since I wanted the information from these specific memories, I let the pain come, welcoming it like an old friend, like the last bit of humanity that I could feel.

The memory of the pilot, whose name was Simons Watterson, started off where I had turned off the radio. It was mostly of he and the other pilot talking, very boring so I skimmed forward a bit, being sure not to tread into his personal life. Then it got interesting. As the pilot had looked out the cockpit window, he was just in time to see it. On the tail of the neighboring helicopter, there it was, gripping upside-down to the rotor. It looked so surreal, yet not odd to me. Human-like in shape, the dark silhouetted being had animalistic features, and other characteristics that weren't recognizable to me; it was too dark to get a clear look. However, the figure was clearly feminine because of the body structure. I could see that now.

This creature had a strength unfitting to its size, for it promptly ripped off the tail of the chopper, and flew off in a blur. The rest of the memory was of that loud noise I had heard, and then nothing, as if the rest had been erased.

As I came out of the memory, feeling a little woozy and lightheaded, I realized that I was close to an Infected Watertower, a little too close for my liking, I could hear the Hunter inside starting to awaken. I quickly moved away to a safe distance before looking to the South, the direction of the Blackwatch Base, Red Crown. I could see its faint glow in the dark of the night. I figured that whatever it was that was skulking around out here had to be found, and if Blackwatch considered it a major threat, that made it a number one priority to find out more about it. They must know something. And I'm going to find out what it is.

•••


	6. Infiltration

I have to ascertain what this "new threat" is.

That's what I kept telling myself as I entered the heavily fortified Blackwatch base with my commander disguise. I had made sure to pick the highest-ranking official I could find, one that could gain access to restricted information. To better assure my success in this mission, I had deactivated the Infection Detectors that surrounded the base first. This has become a habit of mine, now that security has tightened like a python's hold. I couldn't be too careful, especially here; I didn't want to get caught here. In the old days, I could just go and destroy the armies that stood in my way, but now that I'm becoming outnumbered, I always stick to the shadows.

The first thing I noticed when I entered the base were the Super Soldiers. I kind of feel sorry for those guys; they were genetically modified freaks that were only designed to fight me. Where will they go when this is all over? They were everywhere, almost outnumbering the amount of ordinary Blackwatch personal. When the city had been taken over by the Infected, because of Blackwatch's mistake, their numbers had steadily increased to a hundred or so. But now I saw there were more then usual, spanning to a few more hundred. I guess that this new threat had really spooked them, and this worried me. If Blackwatch was this worried, does that mean I should be worried to?

Bloodtox was thickly blanketed in the air, covering the compound in a red misty haze. I breathed normally, unaffected by the once toxic gas. In the past, this stuff would have made me choke and gag and feel dizzy. Too long in it, and I would have passed out. But I have long since grown immune. Now, breathing in the stinking smoke was just as lethal as the smell of burning hair. The only reason I sometimes avoid a cloud of this stuff was because it reeks. Looks like paprika, smells like ass, as I believe one person I had consumed once said.

I took a good long look at the base around me, taking it all in. It was immense, occupying most of the lower tip of Manhattan. If I had to guess I would have said it was about six or seven city blocks long and wide, but now it was hard to tell. Most of the buildings and skyscrapers had been cleared away for a large number of storage bunkers, weapon warehouses, and Bloodtox silos with the occasion small sleeping quarters here and there. These people were prepared for a long haul, a very long haul, which was to be expected by the hell I've given them and am planning to give them. What I'm planning is not clear to me yet, but it will be, soon.

Wandering around the lumbering gorillas and normal soldiers, being sure to give the Super Soldiers a wide berth as they could detect me, I caught sight of a few men without their masks, a look of sadness plastered on as a substitute. One man was looking at a photograph, and as I passed him casually, I caught a glance of what I guess was the man's family. At this I couldn't help but feel a pang of remorse for him and the other people here. Once new soldiers landed on the shores here, most of them normal military roped in under false propaganda because of the decreasing number of Blackwatch soldiers, they soon discovered they could never leave and were forced to become Blackwatch under quick vigorous training. No ships or air-vehicles ever left the quarantined island; for fear that the Infection would spread.

Nobody ever tried to escape, at least not after what happened a month ago. I was sneaking around the base that day, when there was a sudden uproar near the helicopter hangar. Upon approaching this commotion, I ran into a fidgety soldier, who began to just feverishly talk about what was going on. Apparently, a buddy of his was attempting to steal a chopper and escape the island. As he finished his annoying explanation, a helicopter whizzed out of the hanger, flying a little lopsided. From the information on flying I'd gained, the escapist didn't know how to fly very well. The soldier by me and others like him started to shout things like, "Go boy!" and "You can do it son!" as the helicopter reached the open water. I started to join in the enthusiasm, silently cheering on the escapist. Then suddenly, there was gunfire and in a burst of flames, the helicopter fell into the water just a little away of the Statue of Liberty. The soldier was left in what I could guess was a state of shock, and I later learned that the person that went down was the soldier's only son. After that day, no one complained about life on the base again.

I felt somewhat sorry for the somber soldiers, cause they'd never see their families and loved ones again. But in a way, this horrible idea was somewhat comforting. They all had ruined my life; ever last one of them, so I was glad that their lives were ruined too. Justice is served in a way, but still, it isn't sweet any more, only bitter. I've started to loose my taste for revenge, lost sight of it, and now I crave something else, something that will never cast it's flavor on my tongue.

Besides, all this pain and endless night never had to happen. The Blackwatch didn't have to commence Carnival II, contaminating the lives of so many families in Hope, Idaho, or let Greene, the main survivor contaminate of their research, survive. And I, or in this case, Alex Mercer, didn't have to release the virus at Pennstation, at what seemed like forever ago, but there was no going back to change the past, no way to remove the guilt and the thousand voices in my head. If there were, well, I would be living my life a little differently, more humbly. It's a nice dream I have, I only wish it were real.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts, and noticed I was getting looks from the personal. I was only here right now for one thing, information on that _thing_ I saw. Now was not the time to feel sorry for the people I hated. I had forever to feel sorry.

I turned my attention to the largest building, a monster compared to the rest, it was the head complex where the men in charge of the operation were held up, planning the next mode of attacking the virus that never seemed to be cured. By which I mean me. Perhaps in there, somewhere, were the answers, the insight I so needed. I made my way toward it, trying to mingle with the Blackwatch crowd. There wasn't any real need to be caution inside the base; Blackwatch always thought I could never get in here. I made sure of that by making some false attempts to penetrate the walls, giving them confidence I couldn't get in. They were too confidante, and I know that would one day that would be their downfall.

Entering the building almost unseen, and giving a map a quick glance to refresh all my collected memories, I made my way to what I believed was the files room. I had never been here before, but I knew my way around from my current disguise's memories. The bleach white hallways were lit with those florescent lights that made a slightly annoying buzzing sound when I listened hard enough. Strangely, there were no soldiers standing guard here, which made me uneasy and suspicious. Maybe I'm in a place I shouldn't be.

"Commander Charles!"

I turned at the call of that name, 'my name' at the moment. A Blackwatch soldier was walking down the hallway toward me with a calmness I almost never see from these people. My first instinct when I saw him was to bash his head in with my Muscle Mass, but I kept my cool. I'm not Alex right now, I told myself; I'm Commander Charles.

"Come on," said the unarmed soldier through his gas mask speaker, gesturing for me to follow, "You're going to miss the meeting."

I didn't move for a bit. A meeting? I search the memories of my last consumed victim and found no evidence of such an event. Maybe he wasn't informed… But I was so close to completing my goal, from getting to the files room. However, this 'meeting' could provide more info then I originally came for. It could be about the creature, besides me, that was now prowling the streets of Manhattan. I decided to proceed to the meeting, taking up the rear behind the soldier, in hopes that it may answer my nagging questions, and for the fact that if I didn't I would have probably blown my cover.

•••


	7. An Enlightening Meeting

"When we hunt, we kill! No one is safe, nothing is sacred; we are Blackwatch! We are the last line of defense! We will burn our own to hold the Red Line, it is the last line to ever hold!"

I spoke this verse perfectly, never faltering, my voice raised high as I chanted it in the soldier line. This motto was one of the first memories I had ever gained; yet I can't quite say who was the owner of it anymore. My Web of Intrigue is now a dense forest, with thousands upon thousands of memory neurons connecting and interconnecting to form a mesh of vines, or at least that is how I picture it in my head; so many memories, so many people, their screams forever echoing in the vast caverns of my tortured mind, haunting me. About ten percent were people whom I had meant to kill, who truly deserved to die for the truth, my truth. I lament the many innocent lives I smashed, stabbed, and swiped away, the futures I stole from this cruel world of mine.

Most of the time, I don't like to think about this, about what horrible inhuman things I've done in my past and will do in the future, but then again, I'm not human. I'm a virus infecting everything that isn't strong enough to get out of my way. Why should I even care about the deaths of a couple of humans? This philosophy can obscure my judgment, making me this the most horrible of things, but then, at that moment, I think of Dana in her coma, and kind Dr. Ragland taking care of her, and somehow, in that moment, I find another piece of humanity left in my rotting heart to cling to.

After the Blackwatch motto was uttered a couple times, just to get it drilled into our heads some more, I sat simultaneously with the other Blackwatch personal. We were in a well-lit room, four walls adorned with motivational posters with the Blackwatch symbols scattered here and there, no windows, only a door left unguarded to escape from if things were to get ugly for unknown reasons. Normally, I would have sat in the back to avoid any unwanted attention, which is always the smartest thing to do. Today however, I sat closer to the front instead, just in case they started talking about _it._ And since people in the back were seldom called, I obtained a practical position to be sure I could ask some enlightening questions, as well as hear clearly all they had to say about _it _and other interesting things I could use to my advantage against them in the future.

The meeting then began with a high-ranking officer, who had a variety of medals and badges displayed on his uniform, walking up to the podium in the front of the room. He tapped the microphone to see if it was working. A high-pitched whine hit the air, hurting my ears, but not as bad as some other sounds I'd heard recently. The man adjusted the mic and cleared his throat.

"I'd like to start off the meeting," he began, "with an update on the Infection. We have seen a significant shortage in their numbers along the eastern side of the city. Our next stage of attack will be to seize the weakened sectors and box the Infection in." I rolled my eyes unseen under the fake mask. I'm not really sure why Blackwatch tries to contain the Infection. Like a snarling rabid creature, it can't be held in a cage forever. One thing that caught my attention was that the region of sectors the person had mentioned included Sector Seventeen, which is where I had seen _it._

The man then began rambling on about some new development called Blacknet, which I found ridiculous, but he just wouldn't shut up about it. Blah, blah, blah, this was getting boring! When was this buffoon going to talk about what I wanted to hear, what I could I guess everyone wanted to hear?! Should we be worried about _it_?! I had a sudden urge to just rip out this man's throat, and take the information I so deserved for myself, watch the memories I needed and be on my way, but I quickly calmed myself, taking in a deep quiet breath, and focused my mind on the words coming from the high commander at the podium. If I am going to get the info I've been looking for, I told myself, I would have to be patient. Even if it means sitting pointlessly in a room when I could just get this guy's memories later.

"Now," the man announced in a semi-dramatic way, "I would like to turn your attention to our new battle suit design."

The man gestured to his right and everyone's heads turned to see a sight, whether for sore eyes or not, I can't say, yet it was one to behold in a sense of question. Modeled on a common Blackwatch soldier was in this suit I couldn't make up my mind about. Its style screamed Blackwatch, due to its signature black coloring and gas mask with built in night-vision goggles that were blue in color and asymmetrical, but there were some menacing new features to take into effect. It had this thick armor that looked like it would be tough to crack and complementing it was this turtle-neck-hood feature. I couldn't tell if they got this idea in design from me for protection, or if they had somewhat idolized me with it, but I could still tell they had me in mind when they were stitching this up.

The announcer then went on with another boring monologue, explaining all the qualities of the features I had just observed for myself. I paid this no mind, and just waited for him to change topics. Besides, no matter how impressive and impervious they though this suit was, or anything else was for that matter, I'll find a way to break it. Like the cockroaches that scurry around the dark corners of the city's dankest places, I'll always find a way to adapt, to survive.

"Are there any questions?" the announcer asked when he had finished his long rant. His eyes traveled around the audience, looking for some soul to ask a question. I was tempted to ask the weaknesses of the suit, but I held my tongue. Finally, he pointed to someone in the far back row, "Yes you, Corporal Rooks."

I turned my head to see a tough-skinned thin-looking soldier, who seemed to have an air of temerity about him, stand up. His face looked war-logged, a trait a new recruit gets after a few days in the intense streets of Manhattan, and there was a congratulatory rank on his shoulder, suggesting he had fought in some other battles. However, he seemed to be a newbie to the Blackwatch Compound.

"When will these suits be ready for the field?" Rooks asked, his gruff voice filled with authority. I was surprised by this for a number of reasons, for example, his attitude toward his superiors. I had never seen a newbie stand up to a higher-ranking officer before. Then there was the question itself; most new recruits aren't looking for action their first time around on the island, hearing how bad the infection is from the surviving Blackwatch who actually made it back from one day on the outside. Why was this soldier so eager to get out there, out numbered ten thousand to one? What unseen purpose or motive could possibly be his? I could only guess he had a family he wanted to see again, and that he wanted to kill the Infection to get off the island. That's how most soldiers thought.

"We are still working out the kinks in the suit," the announcer answered, "What you see before you is the prototype. It's unsure when the final version will be ready." Corporal Rooks nodded thoughtfully, and sat back down. Well, that was some good news for me. At least I didn't have to worry about Blackwatch upgrading their arsenal just yet. It'll still be same old, same old, for a while.

"And now," the announcer said not as enthusiastically as I'd hoped, "about the new threat, Codename ERIS."

My hand immediately shot up. Finally! They are going to talk about _it_ or in this case Codename ERIS. Strange name, though it kind of made sense, goddess of chaos and all; my life's been a bit hectic ever since it showed up. The commander seemed to take forever to find my hand. At last, he found it, regarded my fake name, and I stood up.

"What do we know about Codename ERIS, sir?" I asked with a little more respect then the Rooks character.

The commentator shuffled a stack of papers on his podium, as if he were looking for the answer. I began to get worried; didn't they know anything about _it? _Or should I say, Codename ERIS. It would take a while for that name to stick. "Well," the man finally replied, "Not as much as we'd like to I'm afraid."

I was somewhat taken aback by this, were they really clueless? "What do you mean, 'Not much'?" I asked, hoping that this stupid organization really did know something about ERIS, and just didn't name it on a whim. If they had given it a codename, they must have found something to go on.

"That's the thing," the podium man replied, "Unlike ZEUS, also know as Alex Mercer," Oh great, here comes the criticism, "We do not have any background information about ERIS. Of course, ZEUS was well known in our field of research well before he became such a prominent threat, as where ERIS might have come from off the streets," Excuses, excuses, I thought, so you find something or not Sherlock? "We were able to find a series fingerprints on the Gunships of the lost Strike Team that went down over Sector Seventeen. Moment of silence for them," Aha! So they did find something! "We ran the evidence through a number of databases worldwide. You all may not know this, but each government has information on all its citizens." Wow, talk about major conspiracy, "Unfortunately, no database on the planet came up with an exact match. It would seem that whoever this new threat is, she's a Jane Doe, or in other words, doesn't exist."

The gravity of what this man said seemed to sink in deep. It would seem I had come here for nothing really. Doesn't exist? How could this thing, Codename ERIS, never have existed until now? Unless… it was a new breed or strand of the Infection, a strand that had taken the form of something new, without a template host… but that didn't make any sense. The Infection as I knew it, even a new strand like or unlike me, would need a host to make a human looking copy. It couldn't just create something out of thin air, could it? Of course, I always need to have an open mind about how the Infection works. From what I'd seen, perhaps the Virus had combined a multitude of things, animals perhaps, to create one being, which would explain the fingerprints. Or that this was something that Blackwatch, Gentek, or even the shadowy New Templars, (who I, or someone else, had read about in some documents), had found or created that they didn't want anyone to know about, and it had somehow gotten loose. The word PARIAH flashed in my mind for a brief second, but I quickly let it go. ERIS was a female, not male. Dumbfounded, I realized I was still standing and getting some looks from people, so I quickly sat back down.

"Thank you, Commander Charles," the commentator said somewhat annoyed, "Now," the room got dim, then dark, and a slideshow started to play, it's projector light visible from a faint wisp of Bloodtox in the air. The blurry pictures displayed were from the Infection Detectors the night that ERIS had attacked the Strike Team's Gunships. I could almost smell the shock and fear in the air as the frozen clips began to role in order. My helicopter was seen faintly in one or two of the pictures, but I'm sure no one noticed it. They were too focused on the terror in front of their faces. "We understand that ERIS," the man at the podium narrated, "has the power of flight," a blur above one of the helicopters, "and has strength to rival ZUES," a shadowy figure holding on to the tail of a Gunship, with the back propeller in mid tear. At this point I couldn't help thinking, yeah right, this thing may be strong, but I'm the strongest thing on this island. Normally I wouldn't be this cocky, but come on, I need a little more self-confidence once in a while in this hell of a life I have, "Most disturbing, we have observed that ERIS has a ability to break down an object with a supersonic sound," A shaky cell-phone video began to play, looking up at the sky from the streets. At first there was nothing, then the helicopter came into view, barely visible in the poor lighting. Then it happened, just as I'd seen. I heard a couple gasps from the audience. Watching the video, I started to get worried. How long was this video? Would it show the falling the pilots? The last thing I needed was for Blackwatch to rope me in with this ERIS thing. My question was then answered as the chopper exploded, the cameraman was attack by what I could guess was a Hunter or some form of Infected and the footage ended there. What surprised me the most about this was that there was someone still alive long enough to make a film; funny really, I thought everyone was dead. Note to self, find survivors and… I stopped myself from continuing that thought. I've killed too many as it is. "We are unsure how this feat is possible, or if it could destroy things other then helicopters, so until that is found out, I suggest strong caution to all field teams." Very reassuring Sherlock, I thought.

So now I knew exactly how that helicopter shattered like that. I also knew if that thing came after me, I'd be pretty much screwed. But from what I'd experienced, I don't think I'm ERIS's target, so I can relax on that notion for now. The power that this thing possesses was unlike anything I'd seen. I mean, sure, I too had a way to create a devastating sonic boom or pulse, but I couldn't break down things into sear nothing. Like all of Blackwatch, I'm stumped. And if this creature could break down helicopters, I'm sure it could demolish people too, especially me for that matter. And what about whole buildings? My mind suddenly wandered to an imagined vision of the entire city rippling that unearthly blue, and then disappearing forever into the dust. No, no I could not let this creature run wild through Manhattan, it needs to be put back in it's cage, or better yet, destroyed completely before havoc rains even worse then it has already.

I got up and left the room as the commentator began to talk about the Red Line, but I didn't need to hear it, and further more, I didn't care. I got what I needed, and I'll be putting it to good use. I'm sure ERIS has more powers, powers I could use to my advantage, to become more powerful then before. I couldn't wait to find her. Her… it's not a her, it's an it, and its powers are mine, all mine.

•••


	8. Voices in my Head

It's been following me for some time now, that thing called ERIS. I first noticed this while walking back from the meeting at Red Crown. Why I was walking instead of just jumping quickly over rooftops is still unclear to me. I guess I just needed some time to think, to take it slow and clear my mind of any distractions. I had just gotten a block away from the base, and was heading to Ragland's morgue to check on Dana. I hope she's still all right; my steps quickened. If it comes to a day when I come in and she isn't… OK….. I swear I'll kill Ragland the slowest way I know possible. Not in sight of any Blackwatch personal or Infected Detectors anymore, I shed my disguise of Commander Charles, shifting my Biomass to assume my most common identity, Alex Mercer. To this day, I still question who, or what, I really am. What I know is that Alex Mercer is who I was and am, and the Blacklight Virus is what I've become and am becoming. I know that I am not just one of these things, cause if I was just Alex Mercer, I would not have killed thousands in cold blood like an animal, and if I was just the Blacklight Virus, I would show no compassion for Dana, who in retrospect, isn't really my sister anymore, yet still is in a sense that I care deeply for her.

A block later, I could sense that something was amiss, that something was defiantly wrong. Call it a six sense or something, whatever it is that tells me things aren't right. The hair on the back of my neck stood straight up, and my Biomass began to shift and prickle under my skin. I looked around to find the source of this uneasy feeling, and noticed a most uncanny thing. There were no Infected here on this street, none anywhere in sight, which was strange because I was about two or three blocks from the Blackwatch base. Normally I would start to see about ten to twenty by now. They would be stumbling around aimlessly, and when they would catch a glimpse of me, they would let out a cry of alarm to the others nearby, and try to avoid me. In unfortunate cases, if I were near a Hive, they would then go on the offensive and attack me pointlessly. But at the moment, all I saw was a couple corpses lying in the streets, some stains of blood and Biomass hinted here and there, still fresh by the sparkle it made in the late afternoon sun. Why I hadn't noticed the Infected's absence, I'm not sure. Blackwatch said they had noticed that the east was Infected depleted, but I was heading up the west side of the island. Where were the Infected? Why aren't they here? Why was it so quiet? Not a black croaking bird graced me with its presence in the sky, and I noticed the shattered remnants of a water tower. Something had happened here, but what?

An idea sprang up in my mind, one that was risky and dangerous to my sanity. Under normal circumstances, I would never have tried such a stunt. Something like this bothered the hell out of me to no end, but due to the state of things, I felt I had no choice. When one wants to find the perpetrator of a crime or action, he listens to the witnesses. Closing my eyes, and hoping they knew what had happened and I wasn't doing this for nothing and I wouldn't regret it, I opened to the Hive Mind.

When I had lost Dana to the Leader Hunter that one time, I had to go through the extensive trouble of getting connected to the Hive Mind to find her. It helped me in the end, and was useful on occasion when spotting an infected water tower or two, but ultimately it came with a price to pay. I could hear them, all of them, screaming as I killed and consumed them, and they could hear me, see into my mind, my hopes and dreams now shattered. They whispered things, horrible things, hopeful things, and sometimes even comforting things. The things that they promised me, power, domination, destruction, all were things that I wanted somewhere in my tainted heart, my tainted soul. The things that I yearned for in the back of my mind, I darkly needed on some level, but at a price of facing the reality at what I'd become, and what they wanted me to become. Once, only for a moment, when I was connected, I almost lost myself in the vastness of the Hive Mind and it's voices. In that moment, my past, my control, my sister, all were forgotten, and I almost said yes to them and their offerings, but I quickly snapped out of it. I hated myself for that moment I almost turned, and promised on Dana's life, and my well being that I would never access the Hive Mind again, unless circumstances allowed. Plus, I never really liked how the Infected saw the world. Infected Vision was all red, yellow, and white, with a haze around everything. No thanks, I'll stick to Thermal Vision and use the crows and ravens to find infected water towers.

Yet now, I was using it, even after my promise. At times like this I hate myself. Why couldn't I have just found out later from a Blackwatch report on this sector? Well, since the Blackwatch would be focusing on the east more then the west they wouldn't have known anyway, and if this was the work of ERIS, which currently I was highly suspecting, there was no time to waste and wait. I needed my answers now.

The first thing I noticed out of the ordinary about the Hive Mind was the fear. Fear was not uncommon for the Infected to feel. When I had killed Elizabeth Greene, their leader, their queen, they had begun to fear me, and then became mortally terrified when I began to kill all Infected near Ragland's morgue. That killing spree, as I remember, wasn't actually for protecting the morgue as I had told Dr. Ragland when I had returned smelling strongly of blood. He had told me earlier that there wasn't anything he could do to wake Dana up, and I had to slaughter those Infected just to cool off. But this fear was different, stronger. I felt it all the way to the Biomass marrow of my reinforced bones, unlike anything I'd felt before. It's intensity nearly knocked me over.

Second thing I noticed was the voices or voice that was always muttering. It's really hard to describe exactly how the Hive Mind talks. If I do try to at least explain, it is like many voices speaking as one, in a whisper but a shout, a whispered shout? It hurts my brain at times to listen, like something scraping their claws or nails in the back of my head, and it makes me think of a crowded office building. Yet however painful and disturbing it may be, I must listen. And they speak.

_Monster-beast! Monster-beast!_ Blurry memories from Infected eyes flood mine, and I see the red image of a winged being. Automatically I know they are talking about ERIS, but I could be wrong. _Kills Us! It has kills Us! Many, many, many… _I see the outline of the creature killing Infected swiftly and taking out the water tower I saw and the Hunter inside it. It's almost invisible, blending into the background, telling me it wasn't infected. Wait, how can that be? _Must find and kill! Kill, kill, kill, kill, and kill again. Can't kill, tried, failed. Too powerful, strange light! Many die by it, many, many die! Strange light, turn to nothing! _The light they are talking about… I see it clearly now. It comes from the beast's mouth like fire from a dragon; I hear that sound from the ones that are reduced to ashes, yet the survivors hear silence, pure and utter silence. I'm reminded of that night over Sector Seventeen, still all too familiar. So it is ERIS and it does have the power to destroy things like people or Infected with its supersonic power, if I could even call it that. My greatest fear had been realized. _Many die by it, it pay, pay for lives We lost. _

I sometimes get a small laugh at the dialogue the Hive Mind has. It's all jumbled and uneducated, kind of like how I imagine a group of toddlers would argue and speak of grown-up things. The Hive Mind didn't always speak this way though. When Greene was still in power, it talked normally, like a normal human being, all under one official voice, but without a leader, it or they, I'm not sure, speaks like an animal. The animal continued to argue with itself.

_Hunters defend us, many Hunters; all are in Hives, Hives safe, We safe… _The feeling of safety envelopes me, but it soon turns to uncertainty, doubt, and fear again._ No use, no use hide. We fight, must fight, can't fight, will kill Us! All, Us all! _Well that's good, I think; at least this thing is killing off the Infection. Suddenly a face enters my mind. Who is that? It took me a while to realize it was me._ Is like Him! It is similar to Him! It kill us! It bad! He kill us! He bad, but we understand, She precious to Him, to Us! _Wait… who is She? No image appears to tell me._ They kill us, but try to kill Him! Always try to kill Him! It kill Them! _That night from a Hunter's point of view in Sector Seventeen._ It good 'cause It kill Them? No, It not killing Him now, It not useful, It bad! He bad, but useful! It kill Us, bad._

I knew from my experiences that the Hive Mind refers to me as Him or He, humans as They or Them and itself as Us or We. It would appear now that they refer to ERIS as It or Monster-Beast, a title that personally I think would better fit me. But who was this She they were referring to? I had an abrupt bad idea, but I quickly shrugged it off. Strange, I thought, how the Hive Mind is able to make a connection between this creature and me. I wonder why that is… All of a sudden, I tensed; what did they mean by 'It not killing Him now'? I looked around, unsure, expecting to see some grotesque monster sneaking up on me from a grimy crack in the ground.

The Hive Mind must have sensed my fears and questions, that I was listening, which usually happens when I am using the Hive Mind for too long. I usually used it for about half a minute when looking to determine the normal civilians, now dead, from the Infected. Today however, I was on a lot longer, and the Hive Mind knew this now. They began to talk to me. I always hate it when they talk to me.

_He listen! He become? _I could sense a flicker of hope and determination from them._ No, He not become yet, still bad, very bad! _Disappointment._ Idea! Idea! He kill It! It bad, He kill It, He good! He must become good! _I'm not joining you, I thought. I knew they could hear me._ He useful, but He can't be trusted. He killed Mother, remember?_ Oh yeah, I remember. How could I forget the time I bashed Greene's face in? Images of that day began to flow nicely, for all the Hive Mind to see. They were disgusted._ He bad always, forever! Sad, very sad… _It was true, I could feel the sadness. Strange how these beings are able to feel more then I do, it wasn't fair._ We could help Him, help Him see! _I had no intention of 'seeing' as they put it._ She more useful, Him not need as much! _There was that 'She' again, and the bad idea came back. _Idea! Idea! He kill It, We kill Them with help of Him after! He become one, one with Us! She awakens soon. Good idea! Good idea! He kill it? Please? _The Hive Mind seemed to be pleading. _Then He join!_

I grimaced as the images of Hunters and Infected, even Hydras, the creatures that emerge from the earth, appeared in my mind, killing, dismembering, infecting, and consuming what was left of the human race in a world ruled by the Virus. And I was there in the images, the lead virus, the Blacklight Virus, leading the Infected in an almost god-like representation. In the Infected's eyes, I glowed brighter then the sun. This form of me, whether a fantasy of the Infected or my future to come is still a doubt I have in the back of my mind, turned it's head and looked at me, like staring in a mirror, once pale blue eyes like that of a hungry wolf now flashed red from the destruction of the fall of man. I shook my head in attempt to get ride this demonic picture, but it remained, even when I opened my eyes, plastered there. "NO!" I shouted in my head as well as out loud. No, I would not comply; I would never become their leader, ever! They could just rot on this island along with me, but I would never join their ranks! I didn't care about what they offered; I just wanted to destroy ERIS! Strangely the Hive Mind agreed with me.

_Bad idea! _It murmured, _He not want that yet! We sorry! One day, one day, someday soon… _I could feel the Infected all over the island grin at the idea. _He still want kill It, good, good! He kill It anyways? We leave Him alone after. Please kill It? Truce? Please? _The Hive Mind begged. _We forgive. We forgive for Mother's sake, dying wish. We same side as Him? He kill Them, but kill Us, We understand! We kill Them! They kill Us and kinda Him! Same side! It kill Them too, but kill Us, no reason! He has reason! We understand, same side… _We aren't on the same side, I thought to them. I could tell the Hive Mind was about to argue, but unexpectedly began to shout. _Monster-beast! Monster-beast! It behind Him! Kill, kill! KILL! BEHIND HIM!_

Alarmed, I turned around, expecting to find the 'Monster-beast' right behind me. Yet there was nothing, or so it would seem, cause the voices in my head, no longer in unison, were screaming, _In front of Him! IN FRONT OF HIM! _And, sadly, they had never been wrong before.

•••


	9. Giving Chase

Not being able to focus on finding ERIS with the Hive Mind screaming in my head, I switched to Thermal Vision, the messy red glow of the Infected Vision wearing away and replaced with a calm consistent blue. I scanned my surroundings intensely, not leaving one area un-double-checked for any sign of heat. At first, I saw nothing other than the cool deserted streets of New York, and the slightly warm Biomass vines wrapped around the non-functioning power lines, connecting one side of the street to the other, giving the place a greenhouse feel and creating a wondrous array of shadows. Nothing seemed to catch my interest. Then I saw it. As my eyes traveled over a series of parked cars, most rusted or smashed in the time of the panic and riots, I caught sight of a warm object, a face, peering out of the closed window of a small minivan. I immediately knew that it was ERIS, the face was feminine and looked young. How I could tell this, I'm still not sure, perhaps someone I consumed had such knowledge of facial structure, even through mildly unclear vision. It was staring at me, motionlessly staring at me from afar. I too stared at it, wondering what exactly to do, what action to take, deciding if it was really worthy of my time or not. I did need to go see Dana, to make sure she was alright, but here was the being I was searching for, tilting its head and smiling slightly at me through the gloom of the car's window, oddly smiling. What was more important?

I switched to my normal vision, to try and see it's face in more detail. But alas, I could not; the darkness of the vehicle it hid in shadowed this diffident character's face, concealing it from me. All but the eyes, those glowing yellow cat eyes, same as the last time I saw them with my own cold blue ones, just as haunting. And same as last time, I could not stop looking at them, those slit orbs of golden yellow and deep space black that seemed to hold so much in them. So much time, pain, loss, knowledge, wisdom, all I saw in these young looking eyes who's age was now unclear to me. What was even more unclear was how I could know all this by just a look at them. It was like some spell captivated me when I stared at those eyes.

Suddenly, with a sudden blink, they were gone, and I snapped back to reality, as horrible as it was. For a moment, I questioned if I had really seen what I had seen, or if it had been an illusion brought on by using the Hive Mind for too long, but I quit doubting myself, it had been real. I switched back to my Thermal Vision, to locate the face, and was slightly surprised but mainly shocked when I saw that it had vanished. ERIS must have hid from view, probably hiding from sight at the bottom of the minivan. Was it afraid? I remembered the first night I saw those eyes it possessed and the shock I had seen in them when it saw my face, a look of fear. It was afraid, afraid of me. I smiled a most wicked smile and my Muscle Mass formed, giving me a stronger appearance. It had the right to be afraid of me. It was a menace, and it needed to die. I couldn't let a dangerous beast run rampant through the city, my city, destroying everything that it looked at with those demon eyes, and even though I hated to agree with the Infected, they were right, this 'Monster-beast' as they called it had to go. What if it should happen upon Ragland's Morgue? My fear for Dana's safety fuelled my rage and desire to destroy this creature.

Running at the car with such speed that the world blurred, I jumped into the air, appreciating the feeling of being airborne for that split second, and landed on the hood, leaving a huge dent. With my strength induced Muscle Mass, I proceeded to rip open the car like a can of sardines, the sound of metal being ripped apart and breaking glass echoed through the streets. Finally open, I formed my Hammerfist in the blink of an eye and peered into the minivan's interior, ready to pummel the cowardly being into a pulp. But my eyes saw no creature of any kind, no demon with unearthly eyes that haunted my thoughts. All there was in the car was a dead mouse or small rat that looked like it had been dead for a while, infected vines that had crept in through the ventilation system covered it's decaying body, digesting it slowly. There was also a big hole in the bottom of the car, as if it had been ripped open big enough for something to crawl through. I cursed under my breath, ERIS must have escaped, my Thermal Vision confirmed that it had created this; warm handprints that were still visible on the rubbery interior lead through it. I looked up and around but saw nothing, nothing! Rage bubbled up inside me like a storm. "WHERE ARE YOU?!" I yelled to the sky, to ERIS, the coward, the scaredy-cat. Why wouldn't it face me?! Why wouldn't it just accept it's fate and let me kill it?!

The pitter-patter of shoeless feet caught my attention, and I turned just in time to see the tail end of a figure disappear into an alleyway off to my left. I gave chase after it, using my Thermal Vision to follow the trail of footprints through the dark alleyway. I ran as fast as I could go, but I could not catch up to the fleeing creature, which's footsteps were growing fainter and fainter. Man, this thing was fast, surprisingly fast, faster then me even. Perhaps ERIS was a force to be reckoned with, giving me all the more reason to consume it and gain more power. As the sound of running feet ahead of me became totally inaudible over my panting breath, I knew I was losing my target. After a couple forks and some wide turns in this labyrinth design of an alley, I came skidding to a halt in a dead end filled with some old trashcans, the old fashion silver kind, and the front half of a totaled sports car propped up against the wall, the tall dark dead end wall that seemed to utter the story of my life gave no further path to follow. The heat signature I had been chasing seemed to end here, stopping in the middle of this enclosure, as if it had vanished into thin air. I looked around desperately, but there was no sign of the elusive being ERIS, no warm hint to where it could have gone, just the fading impression of strange feet at the foot of mine. I heard not a sound; it was as quiet as a tomb in this alley.

I switched back to normal vision since Thermal Vision was hurting my eyes, and thought hard at what to do. What could I do? ERIS was long gone now, and probably hiding in a place I would never find it. I had no means of catching and killing this… whatever it was. There was no background on this menace I could go on for information, no way of knowing what it would or could do, what it wanted to do, what it's purpose in this world was… Stewing over what had crossed my thoughts, I couldn't help but smile and shake my head. I was dumb, what was I thinking? Here I was, blindly following the scent of an unknown beast like a rat in a maze that contained both cheese and cat. From what I had seen, I was probably following the trail to my doom, as good as it sounded, as this ERIS Monster-beast could surly do away with me in an instant, especially with the impression I'd made. But why hadn't it?

There was a strange hissing noise that sounded like a pipe giving off steam coming from above, but I was too angry to focus on it, I disregarded it. My rage seeped through every fiber of my being, till the color red washed over my eyes. Never in my life, besides using Infected Vision, did I see red then in that moment of pure untold hatred. I was angry with Blackwatch for their uselessness, at myself for letting ERIS get away, and that demon for making my life hell.

"ERIS!" I yelled to it if it was nearby, still in ear shot, my voice echoing in the small area, "Come on out and face me! You coward!" I don't remember a time in my tortuous life that I had yelled so loudly, not even when I was chasing after that bastard Tagart in his escape vehicle. That suicidal moron, he should have know that I would show no mercy, that nothing could protect him from me, the Blacklight Virus. ERIS would soon face the same fate, as I had in my mind. Oh, yes, ERIS was going to die, I was going to destroy that beast till there was nothing left. Then there would only be one, one being of power, one being that ruled the city alone, me! The place where I deserved to be, on top, alone forever, sounds sad, but if no one dares lift a finger to stop me, it will be truly worth it.

Suddenly, something fell from the darkness above, like a hailstone. It bounced off the totaled car with a loud rupturing clag, causing it to set off the car's alarm before the object rolled to a stop at my feet. It was a spray paint can, of purple paint, which I could tell had been used recently because I could smell the fresh paint smell that hung heavily in the air and made me feel slightly lightheaded. Where had this come from? I then remembered hearing the hissing sound, which I realized was the sound a spray paint can makes. Why hadn't I realized this before? I thought with resentment. Slowly, cautiously, I looked up to where it had fallen from, sort of fearing what I was going to see. I expected to see ERIS up above, ready to pounce, but I didn't. Instead I saw something that changed everything I thought I knew about the creature. In the flashing light of the car's alarm high beams, words of purple wet paint shined out from the grey concrete walls.

**I am friend, not foe. **

**Wait to find the clue so we can officially meet. **

**I can't wait to see you Alex. **

**As I am called here, **

**ERIS.**

•••


	10. Haunted

The setting sun always brings back memories, none of which are mine, of happier times before all this, times that I know all humanity would cherish. But I'm not of humanity anymore, I'm not even sure I, or should I say, Alex Mercer, was a playing part in the goodness of that humanity. I feel no connection with these images of the past as I gaze out at the falling orb of red fire, starting to disappear behind the skyscrapers of the faraway shoreline that I would never be able to reach or set foot on, risk being shot down or captured and experimented on like a lab rat. One would start to think, start to believe even, that all the missing stars supposed to be in the sky had gone to a better place over the water, scattered like dust along the faraway land of New York City. I don't think that I live in a part of New York anymore; it's become the leftovers of a rotting carcass now festering with maggots, forgotten and left to cave in on itself. There are no stars here, only the glow of Blackwatch's base to my right, far down the shoreline, seems to mock the light of a dying star.

I stood at the edge of the territory of Manhattan, my territory, my prowling and hunting grounds, by the partially abandoned hospital, waiting for the right time to go check on Dana, my supposed sister. Every time I came here; I would always say a silent prayer to no one that she'd be awake. Every time, I'd be disappointed. But Dana's welfare had now become the least of my worries. I had a lot on my mind, what with ERIS leaving that message for me, so cryptic, it didn't even reveal it's true name, if it had one. What if it hadn't been ERIS at all? That question was also on the table, but reality won in saying that it was in fact the being I'd been after now wrote that. I could still see those purple words it had painted in an artistic manner that I could not explain, those purple words that changed everything, even when I closed my eyes, they were there, like that thing had imprinted them to the back of my eyelids. That thing… for the reasons being, it didn't seem right to call ERIS that anymore. Whoever this was, or could have been, ERIS was intelligent enough to know where I was and how to avoid me, and so far, seemed no threat to me at all. I now stopped calling ERIS it. It now became she and her, given proper grammar context, as from what I had seen, ERIS was feminine in her nature. I wondered what this clue she would be giving me would be, the clue that would lead to our meeting face to face. I wondered who she was, what she looked like. And once we had met, what then? If this were some sort of elaborate trap, I would kill her. If not… to be honest, I'm not sure what else to do besides kill her. Perhaps with time as it passes, the answer of what is to be done will reveal itself to me.

A sudden gust of cold wind blew in from the mainland, chilling me to the bone. I hate the nights here at Manhattan at this time of year, icy winds blowing in from all directions, freezing all areas of the island, causing all Infected, including me, to seek shelter as the howling currents claimed the skyscrapers. Nothing was warm to me anymore, as my temperature required an always-high fever level of warmth, a side affect of being the Blacklight Virus. I almost wished that the sun would climb it's way back up to it's rightful place in the sky and spread it's warm rays over my pale emotionless face, comforting my cold heart with it's sunshine and the promise of a new day. But there was no day here anymore, only the constant over oppressing night; it seemed to be night for me all the time now, a never-ending night with no moon to illuminate my way, only the simulated skyscraper stars that had abandoned me for the world's more beautiful places.

As the last bit of red disappeared into the twinkling mass of the city, leaving here forever in a trail of ugly orange that showed the truth behind the polluted sky, I turned and proceeded toward the tall looming hospital building, now just Ragland's Morgue as I called it, there was no need for any other name. However, it's true title, St. Paul's hospital, should not be forgotten. Since I had spent a good amount of my not so precious quality time here, fleshy Biomass vines had begun to creep up the building from the door I had always used to enter, creating a barrier for sorts, which I had done sort of on purpose, I guess. It wasn't to keep Ragland inside, he wasn't a prisoner, he could have easily left through the various other entrances and exits. There were a couple reasons why he stayed though. First because I ordered him to keep my sister safe, and because of his fear of me, he's dutifully done so; second reason was that he had a place to research new developments of the Virus, how it spreads, and new ways to battle the adaptations. Third was that it is just too dangerous for him to set foot outside, a human in the streets here wouldn't last a minute. Believe me, I know, I've watched it happen numerous times. Sad to say, and I don't tell Ragland this, but besides the Blackwatch soldiers, I believe he and Dana are the only survivors left in this Hellhole. That aside in my mind, I did a quick slash through the vines with a flick of my claws, and entered before they recovered the entrance. It's kind of pointless, but I enjoy a routine.

The hospital was a pretty big place, one of which I had never fully excavated, but luckily Ragland's morgue was in the basement, not far from the way I had just came in. However, the journey there was always one of my least favorite things to do, and for good reason. As I rounded the reception desk, I stared down a long blank white hallway, dark and quiet, the only light coming from an open room situated in the middle of the hall. I began walking, slowly, almost tiptoeing, toward the end of the barren corridor where a set of double doors led to where the basement was. I kept my eyes focused on my destination, trying not to look into the dark empty rooms. There had once been infected patients in those rooms, but they were gone now, forever forgotten. There was a heavy feeling in the air, one that could not be shaken, and the silence was dead, so that when I stepped through the motion detector array I had set up as an early warning system for Ragland, and heard the alarm go off in the floor below me, I flinched a bit at the sound. My Biomass began to prickle nervously as I approached the room where light was spilling out of the door like water; dust floating through the air glowed in the shaft of brightness like a swarm of tiny insects. I told myself not to look there, but as I passed this one room, I just had to take a peak.

Inside the bare room of peeling paint and dust, smack dab in the middle was a small wooden rocking chair; just a normal creepy-looking chair, nothing really special about it. There was just only one tiny little problem that bugged the Hell out of me. Every time I came here, since the time of the Nuke Incident, that chair was always in a different position. Sometimes it was in a corner, facing the corner; sometimes it was facing out the large Plexiglas windows, never in the same way as I passed last time. At first I thought it was Ragland, I mean, come on, he was the only human left in the building, who else could it be? But it couldn't have been. I had set up a camera that pointed up the hallway from the end I was trying to reach, the Morgue entrance, and after running through hours of footage, I never saw Ragland leave his fortress of solitude. What I did see could only leave me to wonder. Shadows without owners, flashes of light, shapes that don't exist, and various other unbelievable occurrences.

Once even, when I came here, I found the rocking chair out in the middle of the hallway, facing the way I came in, scaring the crap out of me. I approached it cautiously, and put it back in its room. For good measure, I had closed the door, and went on my way, thinking nothing else about it. When I came back after what I think was about fifteen minutes, I came upon a shocking scene. The door was open again, and the chair was sitting in the doorway, as if waiting for me. Even now, I get the chills from that memory.

I quickly looked away from the odd thing, quickening my pace as I thought I heard the sound of creaking wood. That sound filled my senses and the walls blurred past. Before long, I was in the stairwell, my breath a slight gasping pant, my back up against the door. I shook my head to clear it. Get your mind straight! Focus on why you are here! But the feeling I could not describe wouldn't leave, even as I descended the stairs.

I am not one to believe in ghosts, but from what I've seen, either through my eyes, or someone else's, I can't help but take a second look and doubt myself.

•••


	11. My Worries

Ragland's morgue was quite cold today, getting a slight shiver out of my system. Man I hate the cold. There were many empty morgue cabinets that had been cleaned recently and had been left open to dry. Was there a real need to wash out these things? I mean sure the Doc wanted to clean things up around here, it was starting to get a bit dirty, but the cold air that I was feeling was coming directly from those cabinets, clouding mists billowed out of them, seeping down to the floor before disappearing into nothingness, just like that helicopter over Sector Seventeen, just like my hopes and dreams for a normal life.

I've always complained about the temperature here on a regular basis, but it isn't Ragland's fault. This section of the hospital always was on an auto generator, powered by some wind turbines and solar panels on the roof, to keep it frosty in the morgue, to preserve the bodies that used to line these shelves. There aren't any bodies there now, I got rid of them once they began to deteriorate and no one came to claim them, or would be coming to claim them anyway. I would shut off the generator if it didn't also supply ventilation to the basement. And besides, I sometimes bring in a body of a dead Infected on Ragland's request, so the cold is still a necessity for his research.

Why Ragland keeps experimenting on these corpses is a little beyond me. However, maybe I'm just complaining about going through the trouble to find each Infected by genetic type, which is tedious. Ragland does have his work cutout for him. He isn't trying to find a cure; I won't let him do that. A cure would mean the end of me…. Perhaps one day I'll allow it. What he is doing is research on the DX-1118 strains. He does keep track of the Infection's progress rather well, usually telling me what I should look out for, how it adapts to my abilities, and how I should adapt to counteract it. Besides keeping a close eye on Dana, he a valuable insight into the interworking of Hives and how they stimulate the Infection's spread. And as long as he is trapped here, he intends to keep the status quo that way.

Oh yes, Ragland knows his life is on the thinnest of lines, he knows exactly what I'm capable of, especially when I'm in one of my angry moods. As long as he keeps Dana at a stable level, and retains an amount of asset work, I'll keep him alive in his open cage, for now. I had promised him freedom if Dana should awaken, to transport him to what was once the civilian compound to be with other humans, but as a month rolled by after the Nuke Incident, the civilians vanished off the face of the map, and she still hadn't awakened, hope and Ragland's chances for a long life were starting to dwindle.

I walked to his office, which was a little warmer than this area. The Doctor was sitting at his desk in a room that got worse and worse in it's tidiness every time I came in here. Made no sense why he would be cleaning the rest of the morgue and not this dump. As soon as I entered through the doorway and saw him, saw how he was just sitting there doing nothing, staring at his hands, thinking hard, I knew something wasn't right, and my biomass, as it normally does, began to prickle in fear for Dana. Had something happened? A thousand fears ran through my head like a stampede of Hunters, raising my worries. There was a long moment of silence.

"Doctor Ragland?" I said in the same tone as I had first met him and always greeted him, to see if that would inquire him to talk. Normally he would respond as soon as he was addressed. It was a moment before he turned to face me, his eyes holding that unsleeping sadness they always held, but today there was an extra amount of fear in them, an emotion that seemed to transport over to me as well.

"Alex," he finally said, not meeting my eye, his speech muffled by the small white mask he had begun to wear over his mouth about a half a month back. There was no real reason for him to; he and I both knew that my virus wasn't contagious without my consent. However, it did make him feel more secure in his health, so I didn't bother him about it. "I uh…." He was stammering, slightly stuttering, wringing his latex gloved hands together nervously. Not a very good sign.

"You what, Doc?" I said as an almost threat, no scratch that, it was a threat. My shifting Biomass was clearly visible on my arms, showing how tense and worried I was getting, causing Ragland to take a safety step back, as if that would even have mattered or helped. "Where is Dana?" I growled. I was ready to kill him then, more ready then ever. I almost wished he would tell me something I didn't want to hear.

Ragland put his hands up as if he were trying to say 'calm down', as if he thought I would show him mercy or something. You'd think he'd have learned by now. "She's fine," he said in a manufactured calmness, as if a misstep in speech might cause me to blow a fuse, which I personally believe might have happened. Once he said those somewhat reassuring words, it felt as though I had taken a bag of cement off my shoulders, yet still there was a matter with the bags of sand that still remained, since there was a reason for how he was acting. I let him continue. "But uh…. It's better if I showed you." He gestured for me to follow him, and I did so warily, the sandbag feeling getting a wee bit stronger with each step I took.

After a few paces across this tundra of a room, shivering once or twice along the way, the temperature rose to a more tolerable cold level, somewhere in the forties I believe, and we reached a doorframe draped with thick plastic sheets tinted dirty and rusty red. I walked through it first, the Doc following. There was the sound of a heart monitor bouncing off the walls of this darkened room. All I could see at the moment was small various colored lights and computer screens of various machines scattered about the room. With the flick of a light switch by the doctor's hand, the florescent lights buzzed and flickered on, revealing my poor sister in their pale light.

She lay there, in an almost elegant way like a stone statue in a church or garden, her hands at her sides, one palm down the other up, her body covered with a warm fireproof blanket, a peaceful look on her face that had still not been altered since I had brought her here. There were a multitude of wires and tubs leading from their designated devices to her small feebly weak form, some clearly seen sticking in her arm, a now all too familiar sight that reminded me all too much of tendrils and still gave me a queasy pity feeling in the caverns of my chest every time I looked upon her in this way. However, as I took another look, I realized something was different about her today, this of all fateful days. Her eyes, closed for the longest time, were darting back and forth under their lids, as if she was dreaming. This had never happened before.

"Dana," I said almost subconsciously, and went to her side as fluidly as a specter, praying as ever she would awake while I was in her presence. My worry was now almost chest crushing, for this girl who was my sister, who had been my sister. But why now had this feeling increased so much? Why all of a sudden was it multiplied to the point that it hurt to care? I knew there was a reason for this feeling, and the moments passing in which I didn't know what was wrong were slowly killing me. I brushed a loose bunch of her brownish hair back to its proper place on her head, as if it had been moved into an unorganized area. Upon doing this, I rested my palm on her forehead, the most common way of checking for temperature. It was warm, warmer then the normal human body temperature, feverish even.

"What's wrong with her?" I asked harshly low, turning back to the Doc, who had been remaining quiet. He was now standing at a small table in the corner of the room. On it were a variety of things, health records, medication, a lamp, and a microscope with various slides, which had originally been in his office. He was currently looking into the microscope's lense, and when he heard me ask my overly important question, he looked up and moved aside, gesturing to the scope. "It's better if you see for yourself." He said, and then gave me a wide berth.

Giving the Doc a suspicious and threatening look, I approached the table, and looked in the viewer, firmly believing whatever I was going to see on that slide was bad, and would affect everything. My belief was not wrong.

•••


	12. Falling into Failure

The first thing I saw when I looked in the lens was blood, a bountiful amount of little red blood cells floating in a sea of plasma, evenly spaced, minding their own business, still fresh too, indicating that this was most likely a recently acquired bit of Dana's blood and not one of the many samples Ragland had on hand. It looked quite normal from my own knowledge, not someone else's thankfully, but from the way Ragland was acting, all worried as hell like I was, I knew there was something here that he wanted me to see. I glanced up at him for a moment; he was looking at me with fear, like a deer waiting to flee at the slightest sign of movement made by the hunter. As if he would get very far.

I looked again into the microscope's viewer lens, and in a few seconds, my heart and breath seemed to stop as something that wasn't blood and defiantly not suppose to be there came into focus. It was a dark little thing, menacingly small, in a triangle shaped cell, red and transparent, with some flagella propelling it along at a very minimal speed. It was slow, very slow, but persistent, for as it neared the closest red blood cell, it sped up a bit, and with all its might, forced its way through the protective membrane and into the cell. At first, there was nothing, as if nothing had happened at all, and I started to think that little thing was behind the cell instead, but then in an instant, the cell exploded, almost like the way I used my devastating tendrils. Chaos reigned for a couple moments, slowly wearing away, then, when all had settled, the blood cell was gone, and two of those _things_, those small demonic organisms, were in its place, moving slowly toward the next cell, the next victim.

I stepped back, away from the microscope, staring at the slide from afar, as if I could still see them. From what I had just witnessed, just momentarily witnessed, I already should have known what was happening, but for some reason, my mind couldn't comprehend it, couldn't wrap around it, like a child trying to put a jigsaw puzzle together without the key picture, or maybe I just didn't want to believe it all together. I looked back up at the good doctor, "What is this?" I asked coldly, my glare as frozen as the morgue itself.

Ragland shuffled nervously, obviously trying to come up with enough courage to tell me unwanted news. Eventually he stopped that, and tried to look brave to the best of his ability, standing his ground. "I took that blood sample from her this morning. From what I can deduce, she…. She has been infected…."

I did not like that answer, no matter how truthful it might have been, I hated it; it was like something was exploding in my head. I punched the wall, making a deep hole in the pale concrete stone identical to the one on the opposite wall, where'd I'd been told Dana was in a coma by the same man who had been running out of lifeline, and now reached the end of his rope. "Why didn't you tell me before!?" I yelled at him, unconsciously creating my Blade arm. I was going to kill him, kill him for not telling me she was infected all this time, for lying to me and saying she was fine.

Ragland, god fearing, moved so that Dana was between us, smart move, his hands up in a silent cry for mercy which I didn't want to hear. "Please Alex," he pleaded, "I didn't know, there were no signs of infection in her blood stream until this morning. I told you myself, I let you look at all the slides up until now!" It took a bit of getting past some of the rage to remember he was right, I had looked at her blood samples from the last month, there was nothing wrong with her then. Looking at him now, I knew he spoke the truth. My Blade slowly disappeared, forming a tightly clenched fist instead, anger still not gone. I turned away from the Doc and punched the wall again in the same spot, letting out a cry not of pain, but of anguish at the realization of the horrible hell-burning reality and truth. Dana, my Dana, my sister, my only reason for living, how I had ever hoped she would never suffer my fate, or something worse then what I endured, but now it would seem a curse has been cast upon the two of us, a family curse. What had we done to deserve this?

My rage and anger mostly spent and subsided, I turned my attention back to the petrified doctor, still in the same spot; he hadn't moved an inch. I could tell he was momentarily expecting his end, and perhaps it was coming, but looking at Dana, and knowing her state, I still needed him alive to keep her alive.

"What does she have?" I asked in a solemn, but otherwise defeated way. I didn't look at him; I kept my eyes on Dana. "Is it Blacklight?" It felt weird to say that, like asking if this was my fault. I would die if it were so.

"No," came the Doctor's answer, lifting my spirits slightly, briefly, from the depths they had fallen, "From my observations of the foreign organism's shape and behavior, I can tell that this virus is of a form of Redlight, and that her coma is somehow affiliated with it."

Redlight, that accursed name, though I hadn't heard it in a long while, was no stranger to me. It had been the product of an experiment in Hope, Idaho, creating the very heart of all torment and evil, by the one who started all this destruction on Manhattan.

"Greene," I said hatefully under my breath. So after all this time of hoping for a lie, she hadn't lied. Her words, I remember them now more clearly then ever. _'She's with us now.'_ ….She. The pieces were falling into place now. The Hive Mind, they knew, _'She precious to Him, to Us!' _Dana was the She. _'She's with us now,' _those words, they echoed in my head, taunting me. It was as I had once thought and always feared, that during her capture, Greene had bequeathed part of the virus over to Dana, as a sort of insurance if I would have defeated her, which I did. Funny thing that, for I think that I would have done something similar, as I had done before I died at Pennstation; and just as I felt for my past actions, for Mercer's past actions, it was beyond forgiveness. It looked like Greene had gotten the last laugh in the end.

"There may be a way to stop it," The Doctor's voice pulled me away from my thoughts, waking me up with words that seemed so unreal to the situation. "What?" I said, unsure I had heard him correctly.

Ragland cleared his throat, "Well, from what I can understand, the strand of Redlight Dana has been infected with wasn't very strong. It's been in a dormant state for some time, and only now has it become active."

I nodded, "And her eye movement?" I made a small gesture toward her face without breaking stare with the Doctor.

"That's how I first suspected something was happening." Ragland answered, looking at my sister, "People in comas don't normally have REMs, which are an indication of dreams and neural activity. My guess is that this coma she is in is connected to the virus, which might have been hiding in her nervous system, and it's activation, which I assume is quite current, is leading to a reactivation of her brain." I looked interested, "Does that mean she's going to wake up?" I asked hopefully, only getting a blink and slight shrug out of the Doc, hope deteriorating, "It's too soon to be sure." My mind reeled as more evidence that spoke otherwise surfaced. The Hive Mind again, '_She awakens soon.'_ Time was running out.

My gaze went to Dana as well, I wondered what she was dreaming about. I hoped that the Hive Mind wasn't starting to intrude on her mind; that she was dreaming of something nice, something about her past; a memory relived perhaps, a pleasant one with the both of us, with any luck. But knowing the past we both shared, of who I was, am, and used to be, a moment like that was few and far between. I, or should I say Alex, had been the parental figure for Dana when no one else would be, and when she was strong enough to be on her own, he left, and never spoke to her again, until recently, before the start of me. Maybe the reason he didn't communicate was because Alex had become a monster in his own right, a borderline sociopath created by a troubled past and a paranoid viewing of humanity. Nothing like that has changed. He knew his own ugliness, and didn't want his sister to know. I, however, had revealed my own darkness to her, and in the end, I didn't have to hide it anymore. Dana accepted who I was, because no matter what, I was still her brother. _No matter what, you're still my brother._ Those were the last words she had said to me before the Leader Hunter had taken her away.

"You said there could be a way to stop it," I said, both hopeful and serious, "How?"

"Well," Ragland put his hand on his mask covered chin, as though thinking, "You've had me researching the effects Blacklight mostly, and a bit on the Redlight that most of the Infected carry, but I have only a limited knowledge on the Redlight virus itself, especially this strain which is not known to me, so I don't have much of an idea on how to counteract it. I'm going to need some information on Redlight and it's various strains. Since I understand that it was Greene who had abducted you sister," my fist clenched tighter, " and she was the incubator for these viruses, it might be beneficial to gather some information on her as well. Are there any documents or test reports you can get me on the subject?"

I thought a moment, and then snapped my fingers, why I'm not sure, it's a strange gesture, "Dana had a laptop with some files about Greene. I'll get that for you." With that, I turned away and proceeded for the exit, not wanting to waste any time.

"Wait!" Ragland called after. I stopped, and turned my head slightly in his direction. "What?" I was getting impatient, every second wasted gave the virus in Dana more time to spread.

"I'm running low on some of my supplies, could you pick up some things for me?" I raised my eyebrow, and stared at him. "…. Please?" he added.

I let out a somewhat annoyed sigh. I hated to get things for the Doc, made me feel like an errand boy. Did he really expect me to put his needs over Dana's? What could he possibly be running low on this time? I inquired, "What do you need?" I asked, in a very agitated way.

"Toilet paper for one thing. Could also use a bit more food supplies and water." He gave me a pleading look, praying I would oblige in his request.

"Fine," I eventually said, "But only after I get you the laptop," Ragland nodded, "Then will you get my supplies?" he asked. I let him hang for a moment, "Yes," I said without any hint of care, and left. And truth is, I didn't care for the Doc at all, but I did care about Dana tremendously. Oh, Dana. As I made my way quickly out of St. Paul's Hospital, running quickly through the haunted hallway, the feeling of failure grew stronger and stronger and stronger, until it was practically unbearable. I felt like I was going to explode, so I decided to. I ran up the side of the building faster then I thought I could, following the Biomass Vines, all the while Greene's words playing in my head, over and over. '_She's with us now.'_

"No, no, no, no, no, no," I kept repeating that as I scaled the building effortlessly, trying to fight off the words Greene said and the screams Dana made in the claws of that Infected beast, that were plaguing my mind. Upon reaching the top's ledge, I jumped at least twenty-five feet in the air, away from the decaying structure, and with all my might and energy built up in the forms of anger and aggression for Greene and for what Dana was likely going to become, I released it all. And in that moment, I don't know how it happened, whether they managed to break through in my tortured state or I had imaged it in my state of hatred, but I swore I heard the Hive Mind's voice whisper evilly in my ear.

_She be with Us soon._

"NOOOOO!" I screamed as more tendrils than I could count extended from me, my Biomass depleting rapidly in this action, making me feel weaker, and somehow, that was ok, I didn't care. All my rage seemed to fade, turning instead to defeat. I had failed, my soul purpose had been to protect Dana, but I failed that when she was taken away. When I brought her back, I had promised her I wouldn't let anything else happen to her, and I had failed again. I was once again purposeless. As the tendrils came back to their rightful owner, I fell, not even bothering to right my fall so I'd land on my feet, I just fell limply, almost lifeless, which is so true, I am neither alive nor dead.

As I descended to the earth, I closed my eyes and briefly took minimal pleasure in the feeling of falling, which was similar to grappling to the helicopters. In those brief moments of air moving past me, I was away from here, all worldly problems gone, painless, weightless, free.

But reality soon came crashing back as I hit the ground, only physically unharmed, leaving a rather giant crater where I had landed. I didn't get up, didn't want to, I just wanted to fade away. I kind of wished I were just a normal mortal man again, and that jump would have claimed my meaningless life. But I wasn't, and I now had a new mission, a new purpose, so I opened my eyes to my starless night, save one helicopter flying high overhead.

•••


	13. The Clue

I think I know why it's been getting colder over the past month. When the Firebreak nuke went off just beyond the coastline, all the radioactive material went up into the atmosphere and got trapped there, preventing most of the sun's light from reaching the ground and warming the Earth as it should. I know that this is eventually going to lead to a nuclear winter here in NYZ. Just merely thinking about it caused me to shiver and move faster toward my destination, both to get my biomass flowing and to speed things up a bit, for I was determined as all get out to save my sister, who was slowly becoming… well, I wasn't entirely sure what it is she'd become, but from what I've seen and from what all Gentek and Blackwatch have seen, I can venture a guess that the result will not be positive, far from it.

Greene, that monster, I should have known all along that she had done this, that she had infected my sister. Perhaps I had known, there had always been a nagging doubt in the back of my mind trying desperately to get my attention, but up until now I had ignored the little thing, and now that the spotlight had fallen on reality, it was yelling 'I told you so!' right in my face at the top of it's lungs, reveling in the fact that I was wrong and it was right. Now I had to make up for my arrogant mistakes, to prevent the Virus from dispersing a third and probably final time, as Greene had intended, and to stop this variant of Redlight from changing her into a Runner, like Greene or me. Well, now that I think about it, she wouldn't be like me, no. As I remember, there had only been female Runners for the most part, if Blackwatch was to be credited, and they were like Greene, altered and mutated from the inside out, looking visually infected if one looked close enough. I, on the other hand, am different. I had been one of the only male Runners in the history of the Virus, and unlike the female counterparts, I look and sound completely human on the outside. So as male Runners or Infected leaders go, those that are still alive to this day for that matter, there is only me… Me and PARIAH.

PARIAH… as I propelled my way through the decaying skyscrapers at Times Square, my mind wandered to ponder on that very name. I knew so little about this being, but I knew he was the one and only other Male Runner in existence besides me, probably the only other there ever will be. Somewhere out there, beyond my borders, in some miscellaneous top-secret military base, was the son of Greene, a boy whose codename was the only name and key to existence and purpose he would ever know. I pitied him in the notion that he was trapped in the body of a child, for he, like me, would live an eternity as he was. What was it about being male that made us special? Was it the Y chromosome, the variants of the Virus, or the fact that we weren't human, and only looked it? While most Runners had been altered by the Virus to become walking diseased super humans, we had been created, cell-by-cell; him from an embryo, me from dying body of Alex Mercer, into perfectly molded forms of pure Viral Biomass. Sharing the same lineage, our only difference, it would seem, was that I had the memories of humanity and all it's rights and wrongs, while he, it, did not. I cannot imagine living a life of captivity under the watch of Blackwatch and scientists doing tests forever without having to one day seek escape and vengeance. Did it have the mind of a child, or a killer? I would never like to find out, because as McMullen had once said, it would be extremely bad if we met face to face. I believe the director was right, knowing some questions are better left unanswered.

I put aside these deep thoughts as I finally reached the repaired remains of Dana's apartment and safe house, just as the first rays of morning were beginning to creep over the horizon. It was here that I had encountered the first Leader Hunter, and where it had taken her. Awful memories of that day were beginning to resurface, but I pushed them back down into the depths of my mind, somewhere next to the Web of Intrigue. The hole that the Hunter had created was now patched up, thanks to me, with thick black tarps, newspaper, and duct tape. Gotta love duct tape. The reason I did this was because I hadn't wanted wind or rain to get in and destroy Dana's work and investigation findings; she wouldn't have wanted that. I took pride in maintaining the apartment from time to time, hoping for the day she would return and thank me for this. On that day, if it ever comes, I will be happy and content for the first time in my entire messed up life.

I entered the darkened apartment and was pleasantly greeted by a wall of warm comforting air and familiar smells. It was always the perfect temperature for me in here, courtesy of the black tarps collecting rays of daylight like giant solar panels and heating the air. I learned this trick from one of the many eggheads in my web. At times like this, I am thankful that I had consumed all those scientists on my quest to find dear Karen…. "Karen," I growled, hating that name, that word, never wanting to hear it or speak it again.

I moved quickly to the table strewn with papers and folders at the far side of the room, scanning everything and anything that might be of use to Ragland. Most notes were in her handwriting, never finished. There were files with names to indicate the topic, all of which I knew, but one that stood out for me the most was a name so familiar and yet so distant, Alex Mercer. I was tempted to open it, to know what she knew before I had learned the truth of it all for myself, but I knew that time was of the essence, and so I push my file aside to reveal the ones under it, related to mine in a way. I selected and picked up the folders entitled Spread, Variants, Virus, and Elizabeth Greene. I breezed through each to make sure all the required and crucial documents were there, learning one or two new things as I read. All was there that needed to be there, and so I tucked them safely under my arm and moved my attention to the laptop. It was fully charged, thankfully, the little green light blinked enthusiastically from the charger. I moved my fingers quickly across the touchpad to see if the computer was ok. It had been neglected for so long and I was worried something might have been blocked, or a virus had gotten to it. Upon thinking this I chuckled a bit at the slight ironic term. I needed to check if the Greene files were still there. Those files were the original ones that had been on this laptop, 'my' laptop, when Dana first acquired it when I went AWOL from the Blacklight Project. The login screen was the first to pop up, making me have to search through my own memories and logic, till eventually, after educated thinking and guessing, I got the password on the first try and began to scan through the folders on the desktop, of the computer that is.

Suddenly, something out of place began to creep up slowly out of my right peripheral vision. I looked to see a beam of morning sunlight stretching it's way up the wall like a snail's trail, and since this was out of the ordinary, there were no windows, I followed it with my eyes back to the source of the intruding brightness, to a big tear in the black tarp that I had not noticed before. Immediately, I got tense and instinctively got into a defensive stance, knowing darn well that there was no way a rip like that could have been made without sufficient force and intent. The tarps were too thick and two strong for nature to act against them, so I knew that something alive had made that entry point. Without taking my eyes off the crack of light, I put the files down on the keyboard, almost jumping when it made a sticky key sound, and made my way toward the tarps, hoping that it had been some animal, a raccoon perhaps, looking for food. I kept my ears open for any noise if that was the case, it could still have been inside.

Reaching the artificial and temporary wall, I knelt down and placed my hand upon the black smooth surface, still warm after a night of cold unforgiving darkness. Slowly I traced the tear, widening it for a split second to allow the sun to blind me, unintentionally, leaving a purple hazy photographic stain in the center of my vision. It would soon fade, if I kept my eyes to the dark. Upon inspecting, it would appear that my suspicions about an animal intruder were incorrect, and that caused more alarm to rise. From what I could tell, a single sharp object had torn this, a knife maybe; all it would take was one… And that was when I saw it. As I ran my fingers down the slit the way I envisioned a knife cutting through the rubber, my hand fell onto what was supposed to be the flat wood floor. But under my fingers, I could feel a series of indents, and upon moving my hand across them like a brail reader; I looked down to view what I had felt. The glow of the dawn's light over New York casted shadows into the deeply rooted engravings I saw at my feet, engravings that had never been there before, or that I recognized in any way, shape, or form. Carved into the wood, not hastily but neat, were three distinct symbols. The first was made out of two curved lines and one straight line, and looked like some sort of flower, a lotus perhaps. The second had only two lines, one of which made me think of a lightning bolt. The third had two lines, one bent to make the bottom half of a diamond, and a small circle. What it was I could only guess it to be a demented smiley face, one of its eyes winking at me. Together, they formed… an arrow? Yes, it was an arrow, and it was pointing in the direction the light took, behind me.

Behind me…. Cautiously, I got up and turned in the indicated direction, moving to the side to allow the light beam to cascade past me and up the wall, further then it had gone before. The light caught glimpse of something I did not, something purple was glinting off the wall. I rubbed my eyes thinking that it was just the sun glare I had seen before, but it was still there when I looked back with a clean vision. I stared at this oddity for sometime, not daring to move just yet, trying to contemplate what it was exactly. From where I stood, it looked like semi-dry paint, purple paint... slowly, the Biomass in my head churned as the blocks fell into place. Purple spray paint! My chest clenched at the realization.

I don't know how I had crossed the room so quickly, or that I turned on the lamplight that had been on the desk, but I was suddenly looking at what was on the wall, the new message, the clue, that I knew ERIS had left for me, it had to be. If the choice in color or markings wasn't apparent enough, who or what else could it be? It was the map of Manhattan, the one that Dana had kept track of all the important locations on, such as Gentek, and what used to be my apartment, but now this poster sized paper map was coated with the purple paint, illustrating a weird optical effect or illusion, and demonstrating an artist's hand. I counted at least thirteen, fourteen, or fifteen lines forming a giant spiral, all ending in an arrow, and all pointing to the same location in Manhattan, some place in Harlem. I looked closer at the area, somehow it seemed familiar, and looked for any building I recognized. However, a specific place could not be identified, for I soon found that it had been cut out and replaced with a small burrowing hole that went into the wall a good five inches. The beam of light was falling right into the hole, and I could see something stuck in there. Upon trying to reach for it, I found that my fingers were too big to fit in the narrow opening. I had an idea to break the wall and get whatever it was that way, but I didn't want to mess up the place any worse then it had been by the Hunter, not for Dana. Thinking a moment, I let a small tendril of Biomass extend from the tip of my forefinger, and fish out the object, now clearly seen as a folded up piece of paper. I looked at it in the palm of my hand, then unfolded it quickly like a kid opening presents at their birthday, not wanting to feel any more suspense. Written on the paper, in the same handwriting style as the first message I had gotten from ERIS in the alley, was written two short sentences.

**In one of your old haunts I'll be.**

**Take your time; I'm in no hurry.**

I read over those words a couple of times, to memorize them, and interpret what it was ERIS was trying to tell me. My old haunts, what could she mean by that? I looked back up at the map again for reference; the hole must have been the location, somewhere in East Harlem. Something about that location pulled a string of familiarity in my mind, but I couldn't figure out why, there were so many memories that I couldn't tell mine from someone else's. Well, whatever it was that was significant to me there, all this proved one thing that was both interesting, as it was terrifying. ERIS knew more about me then I had realized, and if she knew about this apartment, this place that had so much connection to me, what other things did she know, what other connections did she make? Fear for Dana and Ragland's safety rose a bit; did ERIS know about them too? What would she do if she found them? I didn't know what to expect from this mysterious being. Finally, I assumed that only time would tell of ERIS's motives.

Speaking of time, I now felt a little pressed for it. I now had two important missions, and was torn between which to tackle first. Dana was the main priority, but I was also curious as to what ERIS wanted to do with me, and why she was trying to communicate in the most riddled of ways. I looked down at the message again, and took heart to the second sentence. "Take your time; I'm in no hurry." I eased down a bit. ERIS seemed to know that I was focusing on something else. How she had figured that out was beyond me, but if she had discovered this place, she probably knew. I had a small faith that ERIS would probably stay put if she wanted to see me as much as I suspected. I did have my doubts though; as I was not one-hundred-percent sure that ERIS might have as much patience as I could have if I wanted to, but for now I needn't look on that subject. Right now, I needed to get the information to Ragland as soon as possible. That being said, I folded up the message and put it in one of the pockets of my jacket. I then turned out the lamplight, gathered up the documents and laptop, placing one in the other, and proceeded outside. I considered patching up the tarp before I left, but that could wait, right now Dana was the main concern, and second was confronting ERIS. I wonder what I'll do once I meet her. I still had a mind to kill her, as killing and consuming her seemed the most straightforward option, but could it have consequences? I'll think about it. Opening the door, I slightly tugged my hood to shield my eyes from the sun, having a short moment to take solace in its warmth. Then, with laptop and documents in hand, I took a running jump and glided over the infected filled streets, in the direction of Ragland's morgue.

I practically threw everything at Ragland when I got to the morgue. He seemed to notice that I was in a rush, but I didn't give him a chance to ask why. After questioning him on Dana's condition, which he responded that she was the same as when I had left, I ordered him to get to work on finding the cure for her and left without another word. He shouted after me to not forget what he had asked for, and I wouldn't, but first and foremost was ERIS, and the place she had asked me to go. I must say that I was feeling a bit nervous and anxious, not knowing exactly what I was going to meet. What would she do once she showed her face and we were looking eye to eye? What would I do seemed to be the bigger question. To me, killing seemed to be the only concrete solution I could think of, one that might end badly for me, or her, but other then that, I didn't know what else to do. I had zero mind to make an alliance, as I had learned from my experience with Captain Cross, but not making one could result in a fight, and I was pretty much through with fighting up to this point. I decided to let the answer just come to me, and to prepare myself for the worst. On my way, I suddenly began to suspect that this could be some sort of elaborate trap, and my Biomass began to prickle thus, but there was no turning back now.

The prickling feeling increased as I drew closer to the location indicated on the map. Something was just dully familiar about this part of the city, ringing a small bell in the cathedral of my mind, and I couldn't remember why. At least, not until I got to the end of the trail, the big red X on the treasure map. I had been running through the streets of East Harlem, looking for some telltale sign of where I was supposed to go for this meeting, or at least another clue. The map had been a little vague in giving an exact location, so I decided to keep running and looking around until something jumped out at me. And something jumped out at me all right. Rounding a corner on a deserted street, I noticed the sheer lack of Infected, a clear sign I was getting close. When I looked to my right across a parking lot, I immediately came skidding to a halt, and just stood and stared, jaw dropped in apprehension and dread.

It was Karen Parker's hideout and secret lab; I could never forget that place. This was where that traitor had hid from me, where I had gotten my sweetest revenge of all. My mind wandered back to ERIS's message, one of my old haunts… Could this be the place of meeting? I began to approach the secret entrance of the hideout with caution, hoping silently that this wasn't it, that I was wrong. I hoped this because I never had wanted to set foot near here again. But upon reaching the door, and seeing a carving emblazon upon it, all hope faded like mist on a sunny day. The carving was different this time, looking like a female symbol with the line going half way into the circle, but the way it had been carved was the same way as the other I had seen, unmistakable.

After accepting the fact that ERIS was most likely waiting inside for me, an underlying rage began to bubble up in my chest, making me clench my fists in pure anger. Out off all the places ERIS could have chosen to reveal herself, why the Hell did it has to be here?! She had the nerve, the audacity, to tell me she knew every detail about who I was in the most prying of ways, first breaking into the sanctity of Dana's safe-house, and now these feat? I felt like I was being taunted by this currently unseen rival, and the want to destroy her increased a good twenty percent. However, it began to decrease as questions began to rise. How could she even have know all of this? And why was she going through all the trouble? In the end, I knew the only way to answer these nagging questions was to ask her myself, so I proceeded through the marked door.

I followed another hunch I had, and was once again angered and surprised when I went to the fateful elevator door. A big purple happy face was waiting for me, purple spray paint again, and it grinned clown-like at me as I stood in front of the large metal doors. This didn't seem to be a threat, I thought. This was more like a friendly message, like, "Hey, wanna play?" And yes, I did, I dared to play this game of cat and mouse. And now that cat had found the mouse's hole. Readying myself for anything, I pressed the elevator button, and watched as the numbers above the door counted down to my fate.

Four…. Three…. Two….. One…..

_**DING!**_

The doors opened and my fate was sealed.

"Hello Alex."

•••


	14. FET

Sometime long ago, before all this Virus crap had started and changed everything, I had…. Alex Mercer had a girlfriend named Karen Parker. They had been romantically involved with each other a while, I'm not sure how long exactly, but one day, don't know why, but they broke up. However, even after they went their separate ways, they had maintained some feelings for one another. But that history did not stop Karen from betraying me, the carbon copy of Mercer. The feeling of betrayal was immense when she sold me out to Blackwatch, to Cross. Apart from my finding out the truth, I had searched for her. Eventually, I had managed to track her down to a building in East Harlem, and getting a disguise, tricked her to her doom, the defining moment being the elevator, the look on her face was that of defeat when I had revealed myself. I will never forget what came after.

And now once again, here I was at the elevator of crossed fates. Only this time, the person I saw inside it took me a bit by surprise.

Standing in the middle of the small dimly lit metal box, not having moved a muscle since the doors had opened to reveal her statuesque form, was a young girl. To give a brief description, she was in what I could only guess was her mid teen years. She had an average build for someone of her 'age', though I could detect an underlying strength to her. There was no threatening nature that was visually seen in how she stood, calm, hands behind her elegantly, unafraid of future events to come, something that I was highly finding unusual and most defiantly uncomfortable. She was dressed in a short-sleeved striped shirt that followed the pattern of light grey then dark grey continuously. This article went over a long shirt of a grayish-tan color. To complete her wares, she had a pair of darker grey yoga pants, but no shoes oddly. Most striking about her appearance was her hair. She had this purple hair, about the same shade as the spray paint used on the door of the elevator and various other locations of interest. If it couldn't get any stranger, it didn't seem to look dyed that way, there was no hidden other color. From what I could tell, it grew straight from the roots in that pigment. How this was an even remotely possible hair color, I didn't know. Two thick strands of a slightly darker shade of purple hair resided on either side of her face, a face that bore a friendly but smug smile, which seemed to illustrate a generally unconcerned and confident individual.

We stared at each other for quite some time. It would seem that neither of us was daring enough to make the first move, apparently. After a course of a few minutes, I watched as the smile on the girl's face faded slowly, giving her no expression to read by. She began to tilt her head to the side, and for some reason, I followed this act of curiosity, mimicking her movement. It was like being caught in a cobra's hypnotic gaze. The silence was ear shattering, and might have lasted till the end of days, had the stranger not spoken a second time.

"So are you just going to stand there, staring at me awkwardly, or are you going to respond back with a decent hello?"

The shear bluntness of the statement threw me off guard. No one had spoken that way to me in a long time. Actually, come to think of it, I don't think anyone had spoken that way to me without me being in disguise, or with at least a hint of fear in his or her eyes, which this person was severely lacking. Upon reflecting on her question, it was only proper that I respond momentarily, but what should I possibly say? There were hundreds upon thousands of different comment combinations that could have been uttered in the next few seconds, but only one in a trillion managed to escape my breath in a timely fashion.

"Who are you?" I asked, speaking my doubts. The reason I said this was mainly because I wasn't entirely sure that this individual, this teen girl standing before me, was actually ERIS, the powerful and elusive creature that I had long been searching for. She didn't fit how I had pictured ERIS to be. The eyes were my main concern. ERIS had since graced her darkened presence by catching my gaze with her yellow animalistic eyes, like that of predatory beast. They were unlike anything I have ever seen. This girl had not the eyes of the mysterious creature, but rather, soft dark brown ones. However, what I saw in the dark depths of the pupil's pools was familiar, as if I were looking at a different version of the same soul.

I could detect a slight level of annoyance as the girl raised an eyebrow, "Why, I'm ERIS of course," she said with a cogent attitude, "Who do you think I am?"

I continued to stare un-approvingly. I was still skeptical of course. It would take more then that, a few mere words, to convince me otherwise, "How can I be sure you're ERIS?" I asked, in an almost unbelieving tone, displaying a flurry of agitated tendrils up and down my arms, "This might be a trick, a trap, probably by Blackwatch. For instance, your eyes don't-"

She interrupted me, "My eyes?" Confusion covered her face for a moment, and then she smiled with understanding, laughing slightly, "Oh… you mean…" In a dramatic way, her eyes closed for a few moments, and when she opened them again, "These eyes?" she asked, her hands up on either side to demonstrate a big reveal. No longer were they the brown bashful eyes of an innocent child, but the cold and calculating yellow eyes of a demon, of ERIS. I stared into them a bit, taking reality in as I would a breath of fresh air. So, this was her, ERIS, the all mighty and powerful beast that rivaled me in strength and could destroy things just by shouting or something of that manner. Personally, I didn't see it. Could just have been me, though. I can't say I was completely taken aback by her appearance, I was just expecting someone… more than this, I suppose. The image I had brewing in my mind didn't compare to this frail and pale looking being.

Perhaps she had the unknown ability to read thoughts, or just simply my expression, for soon her pleasant smile had faded yet again, and she looked away for a moment, as if I had hurt her feelings in some way shape or form. When she looked back at me, her eyes were now just mild human versions of the original brown. "I'm not really what you were expecting, huh?" What could I do, but nod in response, to which the smile returned, "Well, in retrospect, I though I was going to be more at your eye level, but you're actually taller then I expected." My gaze turned to a slight critic squint, as I wasn't sure to take that as an insult or a compliment.

My untrusting thoughts soon turned their attention to the way she had her hands held behind her back, like she was concealing some hidden weapon. I grew suspicious of this, and when she took a step foreword, I formed my Blade and pointed it straight at her heart, making it perfectly clear that I wasn't even remotely close to trusting her. My attempt to say 'Stay Back' was followed, her foot retracting from the path it had taken, but it seemed to ultimately amuse her. Not a flicker of fear crossed ERIS' Cheshire face; she didn't even give a glance at the weapon now glinting in the red emergency light of the elevator. If anything, her grin widened. "Relax," she said, slowly revealing both her hands, one of which held a spray-paint can, "I'm not going to double cross you." Her tone was calm, careful not to be upsetting, but it also was jokey, as if mocking how I was acting. She then gingerly tossed me the implement of back alley street art underhanded style, to which I caught with a reformed right hand. I looked at it for a brief second; making sure it wasn't a grenade in disguise, before moving my concentrating vision back to this odd character.

"I hope you liked my artistic work that lead you here," she said, trying to look enthusiastic, though her blinking from time to time seemed to indicate that she was worried of criticism. I held up the can she had tossed me, "So it was you who left all those messages?" I asked, even though I knew the answer had to be yes, but who knows, perhaps there were two of them in the charades and setting up of the dominos. ERIS didn't answer at first, but gave me a look, like I had asked a really dumb question. "Every one of them, by my hand," she made a small bow, not breaking eye contact, "The wall in the alley, the map, and the big happy, all mine. I also had done some carvings here and there if you really needed help to find my clues. Hope you saw them, I worked really hard to carve those, and it would be shameful if you haven't caught them." She looked up at me with big hopeful eyes, "Did you happen to see them?" I nodded, and her smile became happy and prideful instead of smug. I kept my amusement down to maintain a blank-slate face throughout this interrogation, though who was interrogating whom was anyone's guess at this point.

I felt that I was not contributing enough input in this stimulating conversation, so in light of that, I decided it was time for me to start asking the questions. "Why did you contact me?" I asked, being sure to keep a generally sincere tone, "What are you exactly?" Having been the one with most of my past exposed, I felt entitled to the information I so requested for. And being on a very tight schedule, which could have a deadline closer then I intentionally wished, I just wanted to get this over with and save Dana from becoming another Elizabeth Greene, and then when all is said and done, then I would deal with this girl. Perhaps I thought this because the tension was getting to me.

ERIS held up her hand in a silencing gesture, the first sign of authority I did not appreciate, "I think proper introductions are in order first. Being the one of more mystery here, I'll go first," she clears her throat, "You know me as ERIS, obviously, that demeaning and inhuman title that Blackwatch gave me. I would prefer, if you don't mind my asking, if you could call me by my actual name. So, please, call me FET."

I blinked at her, "Fet?" That was such an odd name, especially for a girl. I'd never heard any such title and neither had anyone else.

"That's right," she said rather cheerfully, "Capital F, capital E, capital T, FET."

I looked at her quizzically, "I'm guessing those are initials for something?"

She nodded, "Yes, it's short for my full name, which is kind of a mouthful to say." Upon giving her an inquiring look, she shook her head, "Oh, you don't need to know my full name just yet, be patient. Just call me FET for now… actually, I would prefer if you always called me that. I'd be extremely grateful if you did."

A pause gave me time to reflect and accept her strange name choice, "Ok then, _FET, _seeing as you know so much about me I don't think I'll need to introduce myself."

"Indeed," she nodded, walking toward me slowly, causing the tension level in the air to rise a good few degrees, "You are Alexander J Mercer, don't know what the J stands for though. You are codenamed: ZEUS by Blackwatch, a really cool codename in my opinion, although, since you hate them, I think Alex or Mercer would suite you respectively. Which do you prefer I call you by?" She started to walk to my left side, not moving any closer. I only followed her with my gaze, "Mercer would be fine," I said.

She stopped in her journey's steps a moment and nodded, "…. So Alex…" I tensed both when she clearly showed her guts by going against my request, and when she continued to walk out of my vision, which the side of my hood obscured. I could have turned my head to follow her, but I remained still, not wanting to show any more hostility. A lot of bad things could surely happen if I did. All I did now was listen to what this 'FET' had to say. I needed to know the truth.

She continued on through my thoughts, "… you are probably wondering why I've chosen to contact you, and brought you here of all places. You most defiantly know the where, but you lack understanding of the why," I could hear her pace slow, as if she wanted to drag out this confrontation for as long as possible. My eyes remained on the elevator, which I was mostly not guessing but knowing that that is what she was referring to. "That I am," I said without the slightest emotion in my voice. She stopped her movement somewhere behind me, about five feet away. I could almost feel her stare searing into the back of my jacket. She was looking most defiantly at the exotic insignia that was there, a red viral design against leather black that seemed to give me the wings of a dark forgotten angel. The hair-raising feeling of being stared at ceased as I heard her bare-feet-fall continue it's circling orbit around me.

"I know that you have other obligations to attend to," She said, a slight self-loathing in her voice, as if she actually detested herself for wasting my time, "So I'll make my explanation as short as I can, for you." I could hear the smile lacing her tone, "A long time ago, longer then you'd expect, I was altered at my will and became the product of a viral experiment," my listening skills perked up a bit. Was she talking about Hope? I, of course, was wrong, "Not Blacklight, mind you, no. No, you see, this type of virus was more… how you say… inorganic. Not surprised if you haven't gotten wind of this project, it was a non-American corporation that engineered it, and Blackwatch doesn't dabble in foreign affairs, at least not to my vast knowledge." The prickling feeling of her gaze returned to the back of my head. She probably sensed my overall curiosity and questions on whatever it was she was talking about, to which a chuckle responded. "I'll provide full disclosure of details later, let's just stick to a summary of crucial points please… Where was I?..." another pause, "Ah, yes, the experiment. So after my 'recreation', I left my duties as a test subject, and began to travel. I doubt few have ever witnessed such sights as I, both the good and bad ones…" she seemed to trail off a bit here, possibly reflecting on her memories of the past. "Eventually," she continued, "I came here to America, attempting to seek some peace in the land of the free and the home of the brave," she scoffed, "Yeah right, I didn't find no such peace here. Instead I come across more secrets and cover-ups, more corruption from an unstable and divided government, more tests on innocent people. Then I learned about Hope, Idaho… no doubt _you_ know what that was like. That incident traced back to Blackwatch and Gentek, whom I should happen to learn were the ones quarantining the Manhattan Island. I was extremely curious, so I stole away in the dark and came here via the water. I thought that in quarantine, they'd not stop things from coming in, just going out. I was right, thankfully, and some sneaking around their base later, I had learned a lot about this virus called Blacklight. And then, who should I hear about," she re-entered my vision, "But of another monster that everyone is so afraid of."

The grin on her face was still apparent, one that had turned slightly malicious and a bit, if not all, sadistic. The feeling of anger, that had been dormant for a good fifteen minutes, was suddenly starting to stir like lava bellow the crust of a volcano. This was not shown publically though, as I kept my vacant expression. "Me?" I asked, to which she nodded in response and began to walk back into the elevator, all while still looking at me with an air of curiosity. The door to the compartment had remained open this whole time, probably due to some hotwiring or jamming she might have done. "Once I learned of your existence, I knew I just had to meet you in person, to know I was not alone. I created that disturbance in that one part of the city to lure you in. Worked like a charm too," she turned full circle then, studying the box, before turning her smile back to me again. That mocking smile, how it boiled the biomass in my head. ERIS, FET, it didn't matter the name, she was hitting a nerve, my patience ticking away and tightening like a guitar string, now on the verge of breaking, "Once I saw you had decided to investigate, I showed you my abilities, knowing as soon as you saw the extent of my strengths and powers that you wouldn't be able to resist trying to find my hiding spot. I also showed you what could be done to those I consider my enemies." She turned away, "I scream and they die." Again the cord was tightened. Thoughts from earlier began to resurface. Knowing of what she could do, I had seen no other choice but to kill her, to destroy and consume her. Did those morals still highly stand, even now? It was looking quite possible. Looking at her, now standing in the elevator, with her back turned and her defenses lowered, all it would take was one small movement, and she would be gone for good. She would feel nothing, I would make it quick and painless, almost humane.

"Once you had begun searching," FET rambled on, "I knew it was just a matter of laying down the trail of bread crumbs for you to follow. I chose this place especially, cause I wanted to show you how good I was at figuring things out. It had to be someplace you held dear and dreadful," she chuckled. I began to lose it then. How dare she! How dare she threaten me with her power and knowledge, trying to make herself bigger then me, how dare she violate the sanctity of my past and Dana's apartment, and HOW DARE SHE bring me back here, HERE! Of all places of my bloodstained past she could have chosen, why this lowly place where two things had died, Karen, and a little bit of my humanity? At that moment, the Hive Mind must have sensed my building rage, and found a loophole in my mental defenses.

_He have It cornered, Monster-beast trapped! Easy kill, easy kill! He must kill it! Now now now now now now now! Strike, render, mutilate! Kill now! It! Must! DIE!_

_**SHUT UP!**_ I thought, trying to focus on what was going on. FET hadn't moved yet. Before me, this being of dangerous and rivaling strength, and possibly mental capacity, even with all she told me, was still an eluding mystery. I could just take her memories to know what made her tick, but was that really the right way to go? Would I regret it later? "You know," she oppressively continued, obviously not sensing the impending danger. Man she never seemed to stop talking, " You are the first person I've had an official and decent conversation with since the incident of my metamorphosis to a non-humanoid." I stared at the back of her purple haired head, as if it were possible to see the wheels turning within. "Why?" I inquired, "Why me above all others?" Her head turned slightly from left to right, looking at the wall of the elevator, then in a profile-like way, she turned it to glance back at me, "Because, we are so alike, you and I. Your origins, your abilities, not to mention your fashion sense, all drew my interest." Her one eyed glare left mine, "I've also found your demeanor quite… intriguing…. Oh, and I absolutely admire your handiwork when it comes to revenge." She ran her hand over a bloodstained indent in the metal wall.

It was that small inclination and movement that broke the camel's back. The Hive Mind was right, this creature, comfortable with the brutal acts of murder, no matter how innocent she seemed, was a danger to everyone, even me. A demon in sheep's woolen coat, the way she acted, talked, even the smallest of details told me of the devilish monster that was merely a body's length away. But my instant decision to kill her was not aided by the Hive Mind's pleas and screams, it was by what she said was right, how similar we were. I knew, deep down, I was a monster; I've admitted it on multiple occasions, and knew that the world would be better off without me, but I could not die while I still had a purpose to fulfill. Her though… she had no purpose being here.

"I'm sorry," I murmured, my right hand becoming infused into a MuscleMass fist, crushing the spray paint can I still had held, empty. In a lightning quick motion, I stepped forward and aimed a punch at the back of her neck, for an instant kill.

•••


	15. Over the Line

_**KLANG!**_

At the last split second before I was able to sever the spinal column at the base of her murderous brain with a direct punch to the back of the neck, FET had made a minor move slightly to the side, causing me to miss the original point of impact, making me hit the wall, my fist becoming imbedded in the metal of the elevator. In a fluid-like movement, she stepped back quickly, ducked under my only free and reaching arm, and walked calmly through the doorframe, as if nothing had happened at all. I attempted to pursue her, but was halted by my currently trapped hand. Anger flared into my muscles, but even that adrenaline wasn't having a positive effect on my metal prison. If anything, it was making it worse, contorting the metal to make the elevator slightly unstable, causing it to jerk up and down ever so slightly. I looked back at FET, who was hesitantly walking away, in a manner like she expected me to ask for her help. As if I would beg for forgiveness for trying to kill her, only to be set free by her. I still had my pride, plus I could probably get out of this with some bought time.

I glared at the retreating girl. "Don't you walk away from me!" I yelled, and to which I suspected, she stopped, her backed turned in my direction, her form now shadowed in the hallway's darkness. There was a long time of silence, my shout still echoing throughout the dead building. When she did speak back after an unknown amount of time, her tone had changed dramatically from the mocking and overly self important authority that I had been listening to up until this point, to a generally real sounding feeling of hurt. "What do you expect someone to do if you assault them with their back turned like that in a very un-sportsman like manner? Though I'm not completely surprised that you did that… I expected something like this to happen, however your timing on the matter… that was slightly unexpected." She maintained a solemn tone through the entire speech.

I glared at her still form, not believing the sudden emotion in her voice at all. Could have just been a trick to coax me into a state of false security so she could escape me, or worse. "If you're expecting an apology, you better forget it!" my voice dropped to a darker tone, "I have no regrets for trying to kill you, and I'll try again momentarily!" Just as soon as I get my hand out of the fucking wall, I thought afterwards. I gave another deliberate tug to get out, but stopped immediately when the doors flickered, threatening to close and conceal my target from me. I was not going to lose this chance to be within striking distance of her, as doing so again after this point would be as hopeless as trying to kill all of Blackwatch. She had to be destroyed by me, now, today, at this moment. I needed to see it done in front of me with my eyes wide open to view it, and once I set a goal for myself, I'll never stop until it's been accomplished.

FET turned back to me, and looked me straight in the eye. I've heard somewhere that the eyes are a way to know a person's innermost thoughts and feelings. In hers, I was prepared to see hatred, a desire for sweet vengeful actions, to treat me as I had previously treated her. But no, I saw none of the emotions of anger and bloodlust that lived fluently in me and all of mankind, as if it were a second language. What I saw, I could only describe as sadness, but not because of me. There seemed to only be a self contempt in FET's eyes, as if she were asking herself what she had done wrong. Her question reflected this eyed sentiment, "Was it something I said?" she asked, the feeling of dreaded loathing of herself never leaving for a moment.

I was taken aback by this development, as I was by the sincerity of her eyes and voice, which indicated no underlying treachery that I could detect. Still, I had not cooled my temper's embers to the point of extinguishment, which in truth, such an act could never be done. "You had given me plenty of reasons for me to do what I did," I answered matter-of-fact-like. Her eyes widened, as if she had received a revelation. She then looked away to the ground, as if she were scolding herself. And if that didn't make it odd enough for me, she did something I did not expect; apologize.

"I'm…. I'm sorry…" The way she said this commonly used phrase made her sound childish, like an innocent who didn't know any better was caught doing something they didn't know to be wrong, "It's just… my past has led me to be a bit… what's the word?" she took a moment to stew over a correct word choice, "… intimidating. I've been recently acting in such a manner on first impression. It's been that way since…" A shadow crossed in front of her eyes, I caught it before she waved it away with a shaking hand, forefinger apparent from a fist to make a point, "But I can see now that this was the wrong approach for you." She walked cautiously toward me, until she was just out of the range I could reach for her. I would have used the Whipfist to just drag her in, but sadly, that hand was stuck at the moment, and try as I might, I can't make a left handed Whipfist. I pointlessly reached for her, the tips of my fingers just barely touching her face, which still wore a mask of sadness and almost understanding. But that's all it was, a mask. I did not trust her yet, when would I ever?

"Alex, I know you are not the most altruistic of individuals, but trust that I only want to help you." She seemed to almost be pleading for my trust now, but I would not hinder to her wishes. "What makes you think that at this point I would remotely trust you, even in the slightest?" I asked, my aggravation displayed perfectly in my chosen attitude.

She sighed; a look of annoyance crossed her vision momentarily, but was replaced presently with control and collected thoughts. FET took a moment to straighten out her shirt, which had become slightly ruffled, then looked to the predicament that was restraining me.

"You've got your hand shuck in a jar, putting you in quite a pickle. Loosen your grip on your anger, and you'll be free of the vise."

… What? What the hell was that supposed to mean?! I mean ok, I knew it was some kind of riddle, but how was that jumble of poetic words supposed to answer a question about trust? FET gave me no indication to the meaning of it at all, only a blank studying stare, as if waiting for me to figure it out. Eventually, but rather delayed, the wheels in my head turned, until something clicked into place and I gave myself a mental slap upside the head. I looked at my hand, currently jammed in tight as though being eaten by the metal wall, then consciously loosened and converted it to thin strings of biomass, easing it out of the hole. Once free, it reformed back into the fist that had missed the blow. My rage had apparently blinded my better judgment. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

I looked back at her to see she had taken a step back as if out of caution. Was she afraid of my freedom? There didn't seem to be any fear in her eyes after a brief inspection, only admiration at my solving of her riddle. When a couple of long stationary moments had passed, I began to move toward her, to test her supposed fearlessness. She did not make any movement, her eyes holding line with mine until she was looking up to see me, and I was looking down about five or six inches to see her. Our staring contest lasted a while, allowing me to judge what lay in the abyss orb's of FET's conscious mind. Trust was mixed with hope in the dark pools lined with chocolate brown, and I knew she was hoping to find the same contents in mine, but I still had yet to trust her.

"Now do you believe me?" she asked with a bit of luck, looking for some hint or trace of such a thing as acceptance in my eyes. I let her hang for a minute on her question as I pretended to think of an answer I already hadn't concocted. "No," I said outright, plain and simple. Seemed a bit cruel, but I was still a bit pissed off with myself at the moment, a bit more then I was with her even. Plus, her having me think to get free of my entanglement aggravated me, as thinking always lead to thoughts, which always lead to memories, which lead to pain; so much pain. It's more rewarding for me to not think and only do.

Again, annoyance filtered into FET's eyes like Bloodtox into a ventilated room. Her eyes were now losing trail and starting to wander in search of something convincing to say. "I know you have been betrayed many times by many different people," again her knowledge of my past irked me, but I let it slide so she could finish, "But I'm not like them…" She looked down in a polite and almost bashful way, "I have far too much respect for you to betray you, less even think about it." She returned her gaze back up to mine, and I saw that she truly meant it. The staring contest continued then for a while. I took this time to judge her again, deciding if an alliance with her would really be worth it. I felt that I had nothing to fear from her, she had never shown the slightest notion that she intended to harm me in any way. Could even after I had seen the evidence that she meant only harm to my enemies be enough for her to gain my allegiance and reliance?

I never got a chance to decide, for my thoughts were interrupted by her unfortunate choice of words. "I overheard what happened to your sister, and I wou-" Again something snapped in my mind, causing me to lose my head and let the voices back in. I grabbed her by the throat, and hoisted off her feet. "How do you know that?!" I bellowed in her face. How could she have overheard what I had discussed with Ragland? Had she been stalking me even at the hospital? Following me around like some rat in the wall and listening to our conversations? Something like that I just can't tolerate on any level. I got no reaction out of her, this girl called FET, who was now at my mercy. In fact she seemed generally unaffected, and even smiled.

"Ironic isn't it? Being as similar as we are, I expected you to welcome me more openly," she chuckled, "One thing we both share is near indestructibility. You can't hurt me, you can't kill me." She grinned a toothy grin, "Does that scare you?" the humor had returned, and again I couldn't stand the sound of it. My grip on her airway tightened, though she seemed relatively unfazed.

"I'm not afraid of you!" I growled, "And we'll just have to see if you are as invulnerable as you think you are." At that second I felt a slight sense of redemption. Perhaps it would be this time I would be successful, this time I could be rid of her. She knew way too much for my liking.

It wasn't until I had really exerted some force to the straggling that she began to show signs of struggle. It started with a look of distress in her eyes, then her arms reached around and gripped my wrists, the first sign of progress. I couldn't help but allow a sadistic smile to cover my face. This is where I felt at my most comfortable, being the dealer of destruction to all those who cause me headache, having them tremble in the wake of my rage as they scamper around feverishly looking for some shadow of mercy to hide in, but they could never find such a thing. I was judge, jury, and executioner, and the verdict was always guilty.

FET locked her eyes with mine, a pleading look in them. "I… want…t-to…. help….." she wheezed out in a gargled voice, which I quickly silenced by squeezing her neck tighter, glaring at her with a vengeance, my smile becoming a sneer, "I don't want your help!" I snarled, biomass shifting in various places on my upper body, indicating things to come, "Until you showed up, everything was fine, everything was perfect, but ever since you appeared, there have been more Blackwatch to deal with, the Hive Mind is harder to hold back, and my sister is being infected as we speak! Ever since you showed up, my life has become a living hell!" At this point, I wasn't entirely sure what I was saying, but I wasn't going to stop spitting fire just yet. It just felt so good to let all my aggression out on this pathetic little weakling.

Her eyes closed for a moment as if in deep concentration. Her hands moved up to mine, and she started to desperately try and pry my hand off her neck. Surprisingly, she was actually pretty strong, might have managed to escape my hold too, if given time. I, of course, would have none of that; I promptly throttled her like a little rag doll, "LOOK AT ME!" I shouted. When she did not do as I had asked, I squeezed as hard as I could, tendrils wrapping around her gullet to aid in the act. I wanted to see fear in her eyes, no, correction, I _needed _to see that. I deserved to see another defeated soul, same as a thousand times before. Yet still she would not open her eyes to see her death.

"Look at me." I said again, this time in a lower, throatier tone. Finally, those child like eyes opened a peak at me, not enough to see any emotion in the reflectors, but just enough to see how bloodshot and full of tears they were, giving me enough pleasure in knowing she was seeing the face of the Reaper right now.

The Reaper grinned a smile full of malice, "What's ironic," I said, alluding to what she had said before just moments ago, "Is that you thought this was going to end any other way then with your demise." I then waited, waited for the fear to start leaking out of her eyes like a river, to see her put up one last fight before I snuffed out all the hope she could possibly have, all the while tightening my grip more and more and-

There was a sudden sickening snapping crunch, a twitch, and FET became limp…

•••


	16. Eye for an Eye

There was a pause, a moment to reflect on what had just been done. My eyes never left the now dangling body at the end of my forearm. I… I had done it. I had killed her. I waited for the feelings of triumph, of relief, to wash over me like a pleasant ocean wave. But they didn't come. What did arrive was this bitter sweet feeling; I'm not really sure what it was, but it gave me the sense that I had lost a few opportunities for myself with this act. Her motionless face had still open eyes, looking heavenward as if searching out a star, a tear residing in the corner of one, stuck in place. I was half temped to close them respectively. My instincts, however, did not care for such emotions of what I guess was remorse, as tendrils made themselves known and readied themselves for the feast of flesh, curling up my arm, anticipating consumption.

Suddenly, something like a shadow darted along the wall just outside my vision. I turned my head away from my victim for a moment to investigate this specter, only to find nothing. Then I heard a low bubbling growl. I looked back at FET; upon this exact moment, I was frozen, as my gaze fell onto a now living creature. Her head was reared back up in a very unnatural posture, and her eyes were now wide open, changed back to those of a demon, only this time the bloodshot whites had become a deep soulless ebony black, making the yellow of the cat eyes stomach wrenchingly intense. An inhumane and possessed rage was all I could see in them in the two seconds I had to view, until her mouth opened, revealing a pair of vampiric teeth, and she let out a Banshee like scream.

There was a blinding flash of white-bluish light, and I was thrown back into the elevator by an unseen force. When my ears had finally stopped ringing and my vision cleared itself from the foggy haze, I caught sight of what I can only describe as a true monster.

FET was no longer the fragile glass flower that I had so easily crushed in the palm of my hand, but rather, a fiercely powerful and dangerous animal. She now stood at what was probably my height, maybe even higher, on lean four jointed legs that ended with three toed pawed feet enhanced with sharp black claws. Large bat-like wings colored jet-black and fleshy red drooped lazily on either side of her, showing well three glistening and glowing spikes poking out of her back like razors. Her ears had changed structure and position to become dark haired feline on the top of her head. Sharp pearly teeth shown light from a panting mouth, which was trying to take in air in sickening gasps, failing from a broken neck, but with a twist of her head, it snapped back into place. It was as if a mad scientist had taken parts of various fauna and formed it together to make this new monstrosity that still had maintained a rather misleading human face and minor form. The tendril that had curled around her gullet to choke her to death was still there, still trying, and she seemed to notice this at the same time I did. Her hands, which had grown slightly curves black claws tore at the tendril bind restricting her passage of breath, ripping it off, allowing for almost a death rattle of air to escape from inside. She held it in between her fingers, gazing at it with a transfixed glare as it still moved with life. A really bad feeling emerged in the pit of my stomach, or what counted for it, as though I knew something deep down was going to take a drastic turn. The danger was apparent in the air like shadowy smoke, but I didn't dare move at the moment, fear she would turn her venomous attention to me. So I watched like a statue as her teeth became bared, wavering in a way that was making them chatter slightly, though not in a way to show lack of warmth. It was more of a threatening undertone. Letting out a low and primal growl, she tossed the writhing vine of dark red flesh, my flesh, to the ground. A black slick fur tail tipped white with additional fur and sickle spikes lashed back and forth. I watched then as FET took in a large gapping breath; for a moment I could have sworn I saw a small glowing light growing in her throat. And then she screamed.

Or at least it looked like she was screaming, 'cause when she formed her face to resemble an enraged yell, all sound faded away as if a very strong white noise had been turned on and canceled out all other noise but the frantic pulsing sound of my biomass in my ears. The tendril, which was wriggling like a salamander's decapitated tail, was caught in the strange radiation being projected from her mouth. Like the helicopter and infected before, it became unmoving, as though paused in all movement of time. An aqua like ripple shot through it at a snail's pace, and as soon as it had reached the opposite end of the object from which it began, it was as if a small bomb was at it's core, for it exploded into dust, leaving nothing but a bright and fading ghostly blue husk of what had been, like the residue light of a nuclear explosion, all too familiar.

Eventually, sound returned to my ears in welcome and cautious steadiness. FET must have ceased whatever abnormal, powerful, and deadly act she was just committing against the boundaries of known science, as I'm sure I have. Warily I turned my eyes away from the formless mass of disappearing blue light, to which I had been transfixed in an awe of child-like curiosity, to view the terror barely three decapitated body's length away from me. She was panting again, as if out of breath momentarily, those strange glassy though solid protrusions on her back and tail had lost their luster shine. Had she become weaken from the ability? Tired out? Perhaps now was my only chance to move and get out of there before I became a matter-less nothing, but before I could even sit up straighter, FET did the most peculiar thing. Upon staring a while at the blue glowing wisp, that had once been a piece of me, for a few minor seconds, she inhaled greatly, like over taken by a great yawn to gulp down air. In amazement I scrutinized as the mist turned from a sky blue to a sea-foam green, then was sucked into her open jaws as though vacuumed in a black hole like effect, and presumably swallowed. My amazement turned to horror as the spikes regained their glow, illuminated even brighter then before, as though she had taken great sustenance from the unearthly thing. It was then FET turned her head and looked at me.

If the anti-virus tumor that had been implanted and attached to my back all that time ago had been given a pair of eyes, it would have given me the same untamed look FET was giving me now. Where once had been control and calmness, all that remained of that had fled and was replaced only with animalistic hunger and instinctual berserk fury. Her glare stung to the bone marrow, and made my biomass squirm unpleasantly on the inside. Could I have sweated, I would have been soaking with salt droplets. Things were not looking good, not at all. Only one thing remained in the center of my mind now and that was to get the hell out of there quickly. But I couldn't, I was trapped in this metal cage, and the door was open for the beast to get in and maul. Wait a minute, the door! My eyes darted frantically to the button panel traditionally to the right of the inside of the elevator. It was still lit up, which meant it could still work the contraption, hopefully. The odds of it still being functional after whatever hotwiring FET had down to it to keep the door from closing were not in my favor, but I had no other options at this point. If I were to attack her, there was no guarantee that she would be hurt by what I could do, and even then I would be disintegrated easily. No, this was the only way to escape unharmed.

I had but broken eye contact with her for no more then a second, yet it was enough to agitate the already unstable monster. She showed her teeth, her upper lip curling inward to show her pink gums, giving her a very gruesome look. She let out a very low and gravely hiss, and took a step forward, the three black claws on her feet clicked against the commonly paneled floor.

_Press a button! Press one now! NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW!_

I don't know if that was from my mind or the Hive Mind, but I obeyed suit. As fast as I could, I made a quick and almost dramatic movement to push one of the small circles, didn't matter which one, so long as it closed. However, it did not seem fast enough to go unnoticed by the demon's eyes, 'cause as soon as I made a slight activation twitch to start the momentum of my escape, FET let out a high pitched screech, and began to move very quickly in raptor-like steps toward me. I pushed the button multiple times, but the doors couldn't close at a rate that I would have liked, so I dug my fingers into the metal of the closing doors to force them shut quicker, just as FET's clawed hands gripped the frames and fought me to do the opposite of what had to be accomplished. A tug-o-war-like battle ensued for a while, FET and I, we seemed to be equally matched. When it would seem I had just about closed it and crushed her digits, she seemed to find strength to pull open the entryway just a little bit more, and visa versa. The elevator groaned in protest to the stress it was experiencing on it's exterior and machinery, all the while it's metallic rumblings were accompanied by the sounds of the creature snarling, growling, screaming, and screeching rabid. There was also a lower sound, something I couldn't really identify, but I took it as nothing. The fight wasn't really going anywhere, and I imagined being stuck in eternity like this, the immortal struggle of good verses evil, doomed to conflict until the end of time. I could not wait that long.

In quick thought, I generated my MuscleMass for the third time that day, if I'm correct in my counting, and exerted more leverage to the struggle. And as FET's snarls of anger began to turn into whines of strain, indicating my victory to come, I theorized of my further future, vacating from this accursed building. Once outside, I would need to race to Dana and Ragland to see if they were all right, and then from there I'll put the pieces together. But now was not the time to count the chickens before hatching, as some would say; only an inch of space was left to see through to the other side, all darkness except for one cold unfeeling yellow eye of malicious intent. I glared back at the optical in a way to suggest a mental laugh of taunting, knowing that I was to be the victor of this scuffle, and looked to see if she had yet accepted this fact a well. But what I saw in that one optical made my Biomass churn up my spine. The look of strain and frailty was suddenly glossed over by the dark glimmer of an unknown idea brewing, and I could tell FET was smiling with the accompaniment of the unnatural crackling sound that followed. Before I was able to use up the last bit of energy I had in my limbs, to be shut away from this occurrence of foreboding mystery, soon and momentarily to be brought to light, a pair of bleach white boney fingers curled slowly around the two frames.

With one single jerk of unimaginable integrity, the mechanical slabs that served as a door were forced open, giving me now light to look fully at the face of the enraged female just a breath away from me. Eye to eye, one showed surprise, the other showed anger, reversed from what should have been the natural order of things. She let out a hissing spat in my face. Not inclining that she literally spit in my face, but the electric air that was propelled at me was just as forceful an insulting gesture. I was then pushed back with such a great a force that if I had not un-seized the door, my arms could have been ripped right out of their sockets. This brutality had not been generated from her normal frail fleshy arms, oh no, but from the extra skeletal appendages that had sprouted under them. These muscle-less arms were strangely and blasphemy impossibly strong, something that just didn't make sense, as the brute force of a single push from those implements knocked the wind out of me, threw me against the wall, and crippled me in a stunned state.

When I looked up weakly, she was towering over me in a looming way, growling low in her throat. All her claws, on hands and paws, gripped the entranceway, as if preparing for a major recoil. My mind screamed to fight, to stop her, but it felt like that I was being held in place by an unseen force, as though this Gorgon had turned me to stone in her wide-eyed gaze. She began breathing heavily, eyes glowing, then wings flared, spikes arched in preparation. She took in a breath.

It was at that moment, or perhaps a minute before then, that I knew I was going to die. It felt odd accepting that fact, especially with how high a god-like pillar I had managed to climb and reside on for so long. They say the higher you are, the harder you fall, and even though I can pick myself up from a leap off the tallest building and hit the ground running, such a metaphorical height I was at I could not survive. A small part of me was screaming to get up and run or fight back, but really, what would have been the point? With a turn of her head, she could be through with me either way. There was no use avoiding it, my time had come, and I didn't really care. So I closed my eyes and waited for the end to come. Perhaps, at this point, I would finally see the life of Alex Mercer flash before my eyes in his perspective instead of someone else's, a privilege I never got, a life I never saw, as death would take hold of me… if he even would, as I imagine when death sees me, he looks the other way, perhaps because of the great service I have given him. It must have been death that had finally come to collect, death was holding me down in invisible chains, for I knew that this time there would be nothing left to regenerate from, everything I am would be gone, reduced to a smoke of soul that she would probably intake greedily. I think my life, the entire few months of it, began to play its role in a going away movie slideshow, making me think of Dana, whom I would protect above all else, of Ragland, kind Ragland, who had helped me and my sister unconditionally like an old friend of family, and even Karen and Cross, for whatever short of time, I could trust them. I was given a small feeling of the emotion of regret for leaving such things behind in my selfish end, but I knew that all would be better off without me. My palms lay open beside me, welcoming the last sound I would ever hear.

But the song of oblivion never played. All I heard was nothing, not even breathing from another. Confused, half thinking I was already dead, I reopened my eyes. FET stood as she had before, only she was holding her lower face with her normal hands, regarding a state of shock, her eyes now wide in the same confusion as mine, her sclera having lost their evil shadow black and had now returned to the milky color holding feline yellow. She was staring at the space above me, a look of absolute horror etched on her face, as well as the look that she had barely missed doing something terribly wrong, like someone who had been playing chicken with a train on a dare and realized how stupid it was just in time to get out of the way of the steaming locomotive.

Personally, I wasn't entirely sure what to make of this, much less what to do. I had the feeling that if I made a move escape now, she'd probably become uncontrolled again at the sight of me running, as most animals do, or was that what she was waiting for? To chase me like a dog, giving me some hope before snuffing it like a cigarette butt on the ground, to play with her prey? I would give her no such pleasure of the chase, which I knew was quite a fantastic feeling. So we just stilled there like models of a peculiar art piece.

Eventually, the deathly awkward silence got the better of me after a minute, and I did the only thing I could think of at the moment that didn't involve moving.

"FET?" I addressed her with a simple little utterance of her name; a name, spoken just barley above a whisper, that still felt odd coming from my mouth rather then the one Blackwatch had given her. The ears that had been flattened down on her head perked back up, and she looked down at me. Her slit pupils were like thin black vertical lines, currently containing a soul where a few seconds before had been vacated of all human reason. They widened to show a mirror of myself in their reflection.

FET's jaw trembled, "…I-I-I…" was all she managed to say, and in a blur of wings, claws, bones, and blue glowing spikes, she retreated very quickly into the obscurity of the world beyond this small metal box, with her hands over her face as if about to weep, leaving behind four long scratches courtesy of her right skeletal fingers. I hastily got up to pursue her, no wait, bad idea, I got up to flee, I was still deciding on what action to take, but was held back by a sudden numbness growing in my chest. Looking down, I saw three crystal darts, the sickles that had originated from the end of the slinky tail she had, embedded there. My head began to feel very funny in a morphine-like way, and when I tried to take them out my hands shook drastically and didn't respond to the simplest of neural instructions. Had I been poisoned?

A few steps forward was all I could manage before my knees buckled and I landed hard on my chest, unable to catch myself, the venomous spikes pushed in further to the epicenter of my Biomass intake. I tried to block out the strange humanizing weakness, spreading through me like a wild fire, making my limbs useless, but I could not. As the dark veil of began to creep up through the corners of my vision, a small part of my mind wanted to call FET back and demand she finish me off in a more dignifying way then having me slowly rot like this, a very cowardly tactic. In the last few moments I had conscious control of thought, I pushed this part far out of my mind, banishing it, for I feared this small part of my subconscious and what it could make me do. The last thing I recall seeing was the gloom of the hallway, and at the far end, two glowing lights hovering side by side, motionlessly staring, before everything faded away.

•••


	17. Awakening

I was not dead.

I thought I was for a bit though. All I could process in my mind was floating in a sea of empty darkness, a landscape that had to count as my purgatory. Can't say I was expecting a long hallway with a light at the end, or to emerge into an abyss of flames curling into the faces of all whom I've consumed. No, to me, empty nothingness seemed to serve as a testament to what I had to expect in the afterlife. I had walked the parallel between right and wrong, and this was my Limbo, for which I would spend whatever time forever felt like. A bit of peace was something I was looking forward to. However, the quiet was interrupted by an unknown voice of hellfire.

"I don't know why she didn't kill you... weak." The voice was quick, cold, and barely above a whisper, but it was enough to get my attention. Startled though I was, I focused on this hoarse and bone-chilling voice and what it had stated. I was still alive? If I could believe what had been said, it would seem so, but if I had not perished, I could only assume was I knocked out. Never had I experienced an unconsciousness that felt so dead. And what if this voice was lying? I didn't know what to do, I was so confused, and I couldn't break out of the veil of shadow. Alone, I called out to the malicious speaking voice of devilish tone. "Who are you?" My voice echoed throughout this unseen cavern, but was not responded to. I started to fear that I had imagined the voice. Had FET's poisoned spikes messed with my mind, giving me delusions? I waited a bit to be sure, silence accompanying me through this journey.

"Hello?" I called out again, not with my lips as I was now registering, and after a few seconds a new variety of voices in unison spoke out of the void.

_He sleeps, He calls to Us. He finally become?_

I recognized the speech pattern immediately as that of the awful Hive Mind. I can't say was glad to hear the sound of their voices, but given the circumstances, it was better to hear them than nothing at all at this point. A few seconds felt like an eternity in this vacuum. Perhaps I could pass the time with a mildly aggressive banter between me and it but that suggestive thought was suddenly canceled out as I remembered Dana, what happened to her, and whose fault it was. What little repressed anger I had left built up with a new geyser-like steam of hate, which was rocketed out in a torrent as I bellowed loud. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY SISTER?"

It was quiet for a moment, and then the Hive Mind chuckled. _She sleeps now,_ it murmured, _becoming, dreaming, a better world to bring. He should too. He want dream too? _A feeling of caring yet manipulative hope accompanied these words, which I quickly rebuked with an emotion of anger resounding back into the blackness. I would never, ever, in any notion, allow them to give me any dreams again. I recall my curiosity, the first time I slept since becoming attached to the viral Hive Mind, when it had taken advantage of my sleeping subconscious and offered me a 'pleasant' dream. Free from the torment of the waking world was their promise. Wondering what they had to offer, and still curious as to how the Hive Mind operated, at the time it seemed a good idea, so I accepted… There are no words, nor amount of obscene gestures that can begin to describe the horrendous nightmare that I had to endure. No, my mind was already messed up enough with all the crap I've been through; I didn't need anymore ghastly images dancing about in my head. The Hive Mind grumbled at my predetermined response, as there was no need for an actual one, and some of it sighed.

_He go crazy in head without dreams, medical fact, scientists dead know much. _Now that I had to agree with them, it was a fact that human beings could develop a case of insomnia if they avoided dreams or sleeping. But seeing as I stood outside that group, I was an acceptation. I couldn't really dream or sleep properly for that matter. Truthfully, I didn't need to sleep, but if I dared to, I would have the memories of others to compensate as bad dreams. Sometimes, when I decide to take a moment to just rest my eyes, I hope, just once, I'd have found the ability for my 'brain' to shut down all connection to the memories, and just let me have a moment of calm. But no, I am given no chance at a dreamless sleep.

Hope came back to the Hive Mind as it continued it's persistent talking to me._ He kill Monster-beast? _They asked, a sense of urgency in their voice,_ It dead yet? _It sounded as though they feared for their lives, for which I could care less. If I could have given them a grimace at that moment, I would have, for their question brought up unneeded disappointment in the failure of my task. I did not fail _them_; I wouldn't even do anything they suggested, unless circumstances applied. I had failed myself, and those who I still gave a damn about. Likely my one chance to get ride of a potential, now likely actual, enemy, and I had screwed it up. The Hive Mind, of course, would try and take that feeling, and use it to their advantage, saying that I actually had some sort of symbiotic attachment to them or some other viral nonsense.

But that didn't matter presently, as I began to recall the fleeting moments before my incapacitation. FET's change in form, sharp as needles in some ways, and monstrously terrifying in others, what was it about her then that had made me slump to the ground like a slab of useless flesh, unable to act and defend myself? What had come over me? The only thing I could remember about that moment was a timid weakness going through my limbs, as though my body was giving up on me. It was almost like an unseen stress was cementing me down. This had never happened to me before, not without consent anyway, as was the case when I was setting myself up to get McMullen. I could not make sense why it had happened at the moment I could have been killed by her. If it had been fear, which I highly doubt, I would have pushed past that in light of my duties to Dana, but she had been forgotten at the time. The only ideal explanation that would make some logical sense as to why I would have acted so suicidal could be that FET had done something to me. Somehow, she had made me weak in mentality, possibly though hidden means. I then considered she could possess an ability of psychosis, which would explain the state of that one Strike Team pilot. It seemed a bit far-fetched, as there was no evidence that she had done anything of the sort, but with the other attributes that creature had, there was no telling the extent of her powers, if I could even refer to them as that.

The Hive Mind, which had been reading my thoughts as one casually reads a magazine in a doctor's office, began to whisper to itself at a level I couldn't really pick up. I caught a couple words here and there, but it was really hard to tell with over a thousand voices talking at once, and all in a hushed tone. One word that was being constantly repeated was 'curious'. I heard it at least seven times. Being that it fit my current emotions perfectly, I inclined them to let me in on their secret conversation.

"What's so curious?" I asked. It was silent for a moment, then with the voices once again speaking loud enough to hear, it responded. _Curious,_ they murmured in a contemplating and interested way, _Curious, Monster-beast could kill Him, was going to. More powerful then Him. Curious. _I grew a bit angrier with this, and would have contradicted that she had caught me off guard, but the Hive Mind did not stop for me to do so. _Would have killed Him, could have. Should have? No, He still maybe needed. Why It stop? Why It spare Him? Curious It was of Him, We can tell. Why so interested? Why then want kill, then not? Curious. Curious. _Curious indeed. Thinking over it now, FET had not wanted to harm me until I had harmed her, which could incline that it was I who had set her off. I don't regret it though, she had crossed a border that I had set, spying on me and my affiliated persons, bringing up bad memories; she deserved what she got. But if I had not gotten caught up in my anger, what might have taken place? She seemed quite patience with me, even if I repeatedly turned down her offer for her assistance. She was persistent; I'll give her that. Most interestingly of all, she didn't even want to hurt me back until I had dealt a death blow, and even then she didn't seem in her same mind when she attacked me, as her eyes lead me to believe. I remember the look on her face in the seconds that would have been my end had she not stopped. The expression was no stranger to humanity; it was that of a parent who had been about to blindly smother their sick child, but didn't at the last second, of a man who couldn't put the bullet in the head of their rabid dog, that of a driver who had almost swerved off a cliff from dozing off. It was a horrified guilt and dread that shocked the system and wouldn't soon be forgotten. And FET had shown that after her episode.

_Curious, curious, curious, curious, curious, curious, curious…_

Be quiet, I told the Hive Mind, which had not stopped muttering that word until I had requested their silence. However, there was no silence; a droning pounding emerged from somewhere below me in the void of nothing. It wasn't the Hive Mind's tampering; I'm not sure how I knew that. Maybe I could sense their intrigue about the sound as well. Desperate to find the source of the noise, I began to struggle mentally, trying to find a line to pull me out of unconsciousness, but there was no way to imagine a physical way to escape the thick blackness. Not matter how hard I tried, nothing would give.

The Hive Mind sensed my anxiousness and my intent. _He need to wake up, _they murmured in an almost concerned tone. "I can't!" I shouted back, my profound statement reverberating back at me several times. Though it seemed they didn't hear me.

_He need to wake up now. He find Monster-beast, It entered His dens, kills Us, It bad. It not kill Him, but He can kill It. Try again. He NOT listen to Monster-beast! Bad bad bad! WAKE UP-!_

I suddenly got a slight feeling back, a sign that I was regaining consciousness. Blurred colors began to appear, as my eyes must have opened, starting to regain their focus.

The pounding had not ceased strangely, and I began to speculate that it was the sound of my biomass shifting steadily through my head in it's own rhythm, though the tempo was alarmingly slow. It was when I synchronized it with a throbbing in my left ankle that I figured it was something else. I moved my optics toward the direction I believed was down. Everything was too numb to tell anything, reminding me slightly of my very first awakening on that metal slab in the Gentek morgue. Coldness appeared next, pressing icy and flat against my cheek and hands, aiding me to focus faster.

It would seem that when I fell, my foot had not cleared the doorway of the elevator. Now the dented iron jaws opened and closed around my ankle with a faint foggy creaking sound, muffled by my still clearing ears. With as much will as I could muster, I pulled the deadened muscle out of the door's way, letting them close for the last and final time.

Slowly, but surely, I began to regain life to my body. The cloudy images became sharp; though crystal clarity could not be obtained in that lighting, nearly pitch black. I became instantly alert to any sounds that would have been nearby, but thankfully, all was quiet. FET had left. But when I began to sit up, I realized she had left something behind. Straightening my back to stretch as I supported myself on my knees, I felt a stinging sensation branch out from my core, making me wince. I instinctually gripped my chest, memories of death threatening to rerun. But when my hand was met with something bulb-like sticking out of my chest, three things total, my eyes widened, as only now I was remembering what had caused me to pass out.

My fingers curled around the objects, and pulled them out with a single tug. The foot long spikes slide out clean like toothpicks from melted butter, flawlessly sharp. I held them up to what little light I had, to study these odd things. Although the red of the elevator's call button might have altered the color only just, it was still clear that they were a very light blue, possibly cyan. The transparency of them allowed me to learn that they were hollow with a small exit at the point for whatever virulent substance that had been contained within to be ejected from, like from the tail of a scorpion. The overall shape of the three objects reminded me of a porcupine's quills, only the size was much bigger, being about an adult forefinger in width at the base and a bulb for what must have been the root, one of which had a line of flesh still attached to the bottom, like that of a knocked out dental bone.

Never in all my collected history had 'I' spied such a collection of peculiar objects, save on the snaking tail of one FET. They were entirely unique. The material was what interested me the most, as only after extreme vigor that was applied on my part could I achieve in breaking one in half. The same amount of force could tear off the hatch of a tank. It seemed like a crystal in nature, but for the specific identity of the material's make-up, I couldn't say for sure. But perhaps Ragland could tell me.

Being careful not to cut myself on the glassy shards, I snapped one other in half, keeping the last one whole intact, and slipped them into one of my jacket's pockets, the one that held the note before, still in there. With them tucked safely away, I stood up on semi-shaking legs, the need to consume something becoming apparent.

I walked out of that building, not looking back at it until I was across the street. That would be the last time I would ever set foot in that place again, and I would make sure of it. Changing to my previous disguise, I ordered an air strike, and left just as the missiles fell from the sky.

•••


	18. Questions, Time, and Devin Calligon

Hunger, the one thing every creature knows, how it screamed from my very core. I quickly did away with it with a quick snag of an obese Infected from one of the alleyways I flew over. I was running with speed I didn't know I possessed, there was no time for walking, I had forgotten walking all together. Walking left me vulnerable to pursuit and surveillance, vulnerable to the reaching hand of time, trying to catch me by my ankle and trip me up. The sun hung straight up in the sky, making my shadow not run ahead of me nor fall behind. I noticed a couple of times that the shade startled some of the Walkers lingering in the streets, as if they recognized my shadow apart from the crows. They knew mine was that of the predator.

At the rate I was running, it might have looked like I was fleeing from hell or something, which in some truth I was. But where was I going? The question slowed me a bit. "Where am I running to?" I skidded to a stop in the middle of a rooftop-parking garage, allowing myself to catch a breather, as well as some coherent thought. What am I doing? This question was as oppressing as the overhead sun.

Blackwatch and Infected monsters have hunted me, but not ever till now have I been stalked by something that could evade me, could defeat me, could make me feel so mortal. ERIS, or FET as she called herself, came into my mind like a phantom. Her name, all caps; were they initials, or was she just trying to make a statement? It didn't matter now; all that mattered was where she might be. For all I know, FET might be seeking revenge for what had happened back there. True, at the moment of her departure, she didn't have an ounce of anger in her eyes; only horror and guilt of herself, but what would time have done to those emotions. With the amount of time I had been out, which I could guess was a few hours, what conclusion had she come to?

Given how paranoid I am, I looked over both shoulders, moving my hood a bit to get a good look at my surroundings. I didn't see anything, but that was just the problem. What wasn't I seeing? Was FET camouflaged in the smallest of shadows? Could she even become invisible? What had she not pridefully demonstrated to me in that very brief period we were in each other's presence?

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the smallest shard of crystal quill. It seemed to shimmer like glass in the sunlight. "What are you?" My mouth formed my thoughts into vocal words. This mysterious girl had told me her whole life story, and yet I still didn't know an ounce of knowledge about her. I needed to know, I needed to get these pieces to Ragland.

… Ragland…

It then hit me. FET knew where Ragland's morgue was; she had been there before, listening. She might have been heading there after the incident, to attack me in a much crueler way. Dana, oh Dana, how could I have left her so unprotected! I was running again before my legs even knew they were moving. There was no telling what FET was going to do. She was so unpredictable. My mind strung a series of ideas of what could be, or worse, had happened while I was not there. I felt like a parent fretting over a latch-key-kid. I couldn't lose Dana again, I just couldn't. Though I didn't like to admit it, I was afraid. Fear of losing Dana, fear of the unknown things that could happen, fueled the speed at which I was traveling semi-blindly.

I don't remember the journey there; all I recall was that suddenly I was opening the front door to the hospital and forcing my way through the biomass barrier. Running down the hallway, I almost tripped over the rocking chair, which today was situated in the middle of the hallway again. There was no time to think about that, I needed to move. Through the double doors and down the seemingly endless flight of stairs, I came barreling into the morgue, almost getting a shock at the change in temperature.

Ragland, who had been sitting in a chair at the far end of the room looking at something, jumped up surprised, and most definitely alive. "Alex, what-" but I didn't give him time to finish. "Dana!" I quickly went into the room she was in, the plastic sheeting of the 'door' flying in my wake as though disturbed by a strong breeze. My eyes immediately fell on my sister. There she lay, just as I had left her, still comatose, still in the same rested position, still alive. I let out the most relieved sigh of my life and slumped against the wall.

I don't know what I'd do if I had lost Dana. She was my last, my only, anchor to humanity that I had left. It was more then just a matter of common blood and DNA relations. I knew that if I lost this, this unfeigned bond of family that she and I shared, all would be lost. I forget that sometimes in the midst of bloodshed, which is way too often.

Feeling weary of the fast travel here and the anxiety of my fears, I half-collapsed into the seat at the side of her cot, my forearms resting on the small sleeping bed, and my chin resting on my arms. My eyes would not leave her. Nothing had changed in her appearance, save that she looked a tad paler and flushed in the cheeks. Her expression was slightly different too. What was once a calm serene face now expressed a minor indication of distress, her eyebrows slightly furrowed and her eye movement a bit more intense. I bristled, knowing the Hive Mind was behind it, trying to get in her head, for which they had no right. But then I pondered this. Did viruses have any rights, or wrongs for that matter? It was doing what it was meant to do, which is consume, kill, multiply. Could I really blame it for following it's instinct and purpose?

Realizing I was trying to justify the Hive Mind's actions, I mentally cursed myself. The virus was sentient, could think of rational things like human beings, and therefore, it was responsible for it's flaws and crimes, just as I am responsible for mine. I returned all thought to my sister.

_Dana?_ I thought out, thinking that if the Hive could reach her, I could. But there was no response, I felt no connection. Wherever she was in her mind, I couldn't reach her. Even though I was right at her side, I'd never felt so far away from her. I wanted to comfort her, to tell her that I was going to save her, to tell her that everything was going to be fine, but no, I was isolated, like being on a desert island, with nothing but a volleyball named Ragland.

I heard Ragland come in through the rubber door slowly, hesitantly. I could tell he wanted to ask me something, but was a bit afraid to intrude on whatever mood he was guessing I was in. "… How is she?" I asked, giving him a little encouragement to talk by being the first to slit the throat of silence. I heard himclear his throat with a little cough, it sounded hoarse and unused. "She's still stable." he replied quietly. I didn't look at him; rather I kept my eyes on my sister. With the reassurance of her health, she seemed to look a little better. "And the virus?" I asked, placing the back of my hand on Dana's fevered cheek. Ragland shifted uncomfortably at the entrance of the door behind me. "It has been increasing steadily, though not too fast to be a threat soon. Her immune system is fighting back rather well…" I smirked as this. That was Dana, always a fighter, if my memory of her is correct. She could endure anything, and I know she could pull through this with a little help. However, even now, I could sense it through my hand. It wasn't too noticeable, but even now I could detect, there, in her circulatory system, was a faint hint of Redlight.

I rose from my seat. Time was forever advancing against us. The most important thing that I could conceive was that Ragland continue his scrupulous research in search of a panacea for Dana, but I was aware that there was another priority. I looked down at my clenched hand, watching it unfurl to reveal the small piece of FET/ERIS. I had not let go of it, it had resided trapped in my palm the entire journey here.

It seemed I was faced with a crossroads decision. If I asked Ragland to study the articles of FET that I possessed, I would learn more about this elusive fiend. However, I knew that if I gave him such a task, it might derail his research from Dana's infection, something that needed his full attention. I slowly closed my hand again, deciding that it could wait.

I turned to give the Doc a one-eyed glance, "How has the computer helped?" I asked, hoping there was something Dana or I had collected in its memory files that could speed things up. The question seemed to give Ragland some life back. "A lot, actually," he responded, "I think I found something that may just be what we need. If you would care to see…" he motioned to the door.

I nodded, "Give me a moment." Ragland dipped his head understandingly, and went out through the door. It was now just the two of us. I took her hand gently in mine and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"I don't know if you can hear me," I whispered, hoping she would hear if she even could, "but I won't let this happen to you… We're going to get through this, I promise." As moments passed like southward birds, I lingered there through them, just watching her, Sleeping Beauty, sister of mine, memorizing her face, trying to remember her voice, for a small part of me that believed that white cloth might cover it, and the room would quiet and darken forever.

Hope, thankfully, was much more present in my mind. Waiting with her one more moment, I retreated from the room to see what Ragland had to offer as a sign of solution.

He was sitting at his desk again, computer in front of him, looking at me expectantly. I walked up to see the monitor, recognizing instantly the picture of the triangular shaped virus that Dana had within her, though this picture showed them in the thousands, completely overtaking the screen. Terror gripped me, "That isn't her, is it?" I asked. Ragland shook his head, "No, no, I acquired this from an unprotected file in Blackwatch's database."

I gave him an inquisitive look. "You hacked their database?" I knew of the dangers that could rise if the connection of this computer is located, Blackwatch could just follow the invisible paper trail here and ruin everything. "Well, actually," Ragland commented, relieving me of my worries for a second time, "It seems your sister managed to get into the low level access portion of the database," he went up to the search history, "right before she was taken by the Leader Hunter." That was a month ago, and if the access to the database had remained on for that long, perhaps the laptop was untraceable. I certainly hope so. "She found some stuff on Greene," he said, "but I doubt you'll be needing anymore information about her." He was right, to an extent, but one must never assume they know everything.

"Can we get back to this?" I asked, pointing at the picture. The Doc recomposed himself, "Ah, yes, right," he adjusted his face mask, "Well, it seems that Greene might have been infiltrating Blackwatch with infected soldiers."

"Yes, I know." How could I forget, that was how I got the Hive Mind in the first place. The soldiers would shine out like a sore thumb while Infected Vision was at play, making it easy to spot them in a group of their unsuspecting squadron, who didn't even know that their buddy was teeming with the virus. Sadly, not even the soldiers themselves knew of the virus stashed inside them. Guess Greene was just wiretapping Blackwatch before she was going to make her move, a move that never happened.

"Ok…" Ragland continued warily, unsure of how much I was already informed on, "Did you know about the Post-Mother incident?" I blinked, that name seemed unfamiliar to me. I racked my memories for the title and although it did appear faintly, no information about it could be found. "No, what is it?" I was surprised that I didn't know about something like this by now, whatever it was.

Ragland gave his glasses a little adjustment, and opened a new window on the browser; this time, it showed a series of dead bodies. My heart sank. "The incident occurred right after you defeated Greene. The soldiers infected with this particular strand of Redlight experienced drastic seizures that killed seven-eighths of the carriers and put the last percent in a coma."

"How did that one-eighth survive?" I asked, glancing the way Dana lay, my fists tightening at the thought that she was lucky to be alive. Ragland answered, "Research on them showed that they had certain gene traits the others didn't, though it's vague on exact details."

My heart thus dropped through the floor and into oblivion at this statement. Had Dana lived due to the luck of her DNA? What might have happened if, though the probability of hundreds of years of ancestral happenstance, that that small little detail of chromosomes had not been passed on to her by mere chance? The thought made me sick to my 'stomach'.

"Are they still alive?" I asked, suspecting I was going to have to dread another specimen run for the Doc.

"Well, after they discovered this small strain in the incapacitated few, they started working on a cure," he opened a new picture of four soldiers in beds awake, one drinking something, probably coffee by the kind of cup, "They experimented on the comatose, and by the time they were down to these four, they got it right."

My spirits lifted like the flight of Icarus, and hopefully were not going to end up the same way. "You mean there's a cure for it?"

"I suspect so," said the Doc, "but I can't access any more information at the level clearance I am currently at."

He stared at the screen in dismay, it's dim power-saving light reflected dully off his glasses and reflectively jumped up and down the walls in freeform shapes. His lips were pursed together, as if he expected a scolding for leaving out too many details on a report paper. I guess he thought I would expect more from him, which I do, but I must reflect that the Doc was only human and could only get so far with the knowledge humans were able to cram in their little skulls. I, however, had an ace up my sleeve.

"Let me," I said, pulling the laptop toward me so it was on my side of the table. I moved though a few links from the current open page till I came to a login window. Neurons fired in my shooting gallery brain as I combed through my collection of profiles, trying to find the memories of someone who people thought was still breathing, who's access to the site would not generate attention. I eventually focused on a scientist named Devin Calligon, whom I had consumed at Red Crown about a week ago. Most people didn't notice him in his corner of the lab, making him the perfect cover. No one paid any attention to him, not even his eldest son, who had gone off to be a mechanic and never called or emailed him to tell him about how successful he was or that he had gotten married. I blinked a bit to banish the lonely thoughts of this poor man back into my web, and allowed the instincts of the dead man to move my fingers fluidly across the keypad and type in the username and password.

Ragland looked at my actions with a curious gaze. I suspected he was wondering whom that pass-code had belonged to, but he didn't dare ask. He'd given up asking a long time ago, as I gave him way too many names to be comfortable with.

Once the code had loaded a very simple looking search, archive, and field reports page, I gave control back to Ragland. He immediately started searching the archive, not wanting to waste any more of my time or patience. People are quick working when they are motivated, either by a time limit, or a gun to their head. I glanced back at where Dana was.

"How much time does Dana have before…." My voice trailed off, I couldn't make the words to suggest the horrible.

Ragland's fingers typed lightning fast, "I've noted the virus's replication speed. Though it doubles at an extremely slow rate, it will soon speed up as more of them appear. I've estimated we have two weeks before the viral count in her reaches it's maximum. Ah, here we go!" He came to a page that had some of the same pictures as before, plus a few images of the scientists that worked on the project. I recognized one or two, but I knew I hadn't consumed any of them. If I had, I might have foreseen this dilemma that now had a countdown. The Doc scrolled down, looking intensely at the digital words and mumbling them to himself.

"…Let's see here… infection… rates that exceeded eighty-percent could not be cured…"

My spine stiffened, what did that do for Dana's time? "If that's the case, we have a week and a half," the doctor replied to my thoughts. My grip tightened on the thing in my palm. The doctor kept reading.

"Ok… cure… cure cure cure cure cure cure cu- AH, here we go, the cure. Whitetox-version 18. Able to affect special strain of Redlight virus in Post-Mother patients. All other strains of Redlight show no ill affects. Whitetox to be kept in storage at Fort Detrick, as mixture with airborne Bloodtox over periods exceeding five days creates unusable and unstable compounds, and therefore, storage at Red Crown would be ill advised. Whitetox is ready to be deployed to Manhattan if the Post-Mother Redlight strain is again identified or if further tests wish to be done on the substance."

There was a moment of pause; the wheels in my head turned like saw blades. "Open a new tab," My mouth said. Ragland did so, and I pushed him aside to get better access. I opened Calligon's personal Gentek messaging account and began to formulate an email, in Calligon's words of course.

**To Fort Detrick**

**Gentek requesting that Whitetox be shipped to Red Crown Lab 56 as soon as possible. Further study of Whitetox crucial to developing stronger Bloodtox.**

**Gentek Scientist 1180186274**

With a click of a button and the whoosh email usually makes when you send a letter, the request was on its way. I stared at the screen, as if expecting an immediate response at any second. But, as was expected with any letter, post, email, or otherwise, it would be a while before any reply was sent. I stood up and away from the messy table with a satisfied sigh. All we had to do now was wait, or in this case, Ragland had to wait. I couldn't stand it in this cold morgue room. I needed to go outside soon. I took a step toward the exit, but stopped.

"Keep an ear out for the reply email. If they ask for your identification and information, your name is Devin Calligon, first nam last name. You can read his id number from the email I sent. You are a level two Gentek scientist and your favorite color is maroon with black spots."

The Doc had written this down on a random piece of paper beside the computer while I spoke, but when I got to the favorite color, he stopped and lifted his head in haunted way, staring at the wall. His voice changed to something I'd never heard before.

"How do you stand it Alex?" I looked at him, confused. What was he talking about? "How do you live with yourself, knowing that you've killed so many people?" I blinked. This was a first for the Doc, he'd never asked me anything like that. And the way he had said it, it had alarmed me, shocked me even, and I began to worry that being too long in this cold morgue was starting to take it's toll on him. But what was even worse was that I didn't know how to respond. How do I live with it?

The question bounced around in my thoughts, making me first confused, then irritated, then angry, since I couldn't really think of a solid answer that would make sense to me. I turned away from the Doc, then said, "I just do." That seemed a good enough answer, I suppose.

I heard Ragland sigh and get up from his seat, "I do hope your sister understands," I heard the rustling of a plastic bag.

"Hey!" I spun around, ready to retort, to say that she was my sister and that she would understand everything, that she loved me for what I was, that no matter what, we were brother and sister, family. But something stopped me dead. It was what Ragland was rummaging through. He had before him a grocery bag, one that I did not recognize him having before, or that I ever brought to him. Didn't he ask me to go pick up some supplies for him earlier? What were they again? Food, water, and; the Doc reached in and pulled out a roll of white; toilet paper. If I had a stomach, it was doing gymnastic back-flips wild enough to win the summer Olympics. "Where did you get those?"

My first thought was that Ragland had gone out to get them himself, which was not only dangerous and left Dana alone, it was incredibly stupid. However, when he looked up at me, and saw my look of horror toward the bag, the color drained from his face. "You mean you didn't…" he looked down at the bag, and in a slight state of calm terror, put it down gently as one would a bomb and backed away from it, taking the laptop with him, as if to protect it.

"Go into Dana's room, now!" I instructed, to which he promptly absconded from the room, the flapping of thick plastic signaling this, as I did not take my eyes off the mysterious grocery bag.

I formed my shield and armor, not knowing what to expect. I did have a suspicion, it was probably right, but that was all the more reason to expect evil. As I took my first cautionary step forward, toward the bag, the grip I had on FET's spike, still in my hand, broke it in two.

•••


End file.
